Sec. Ona and Gov. Pineda cut ceremonial ribbon in the presence of Msgr. Ric Serrano, board members Nestor Tolentino, Fritzi David-Dizon and Monz Laus along with local health officials. Photo by Ric Gonzales
The newly-inaugurated 110-room building at the Jose Lingad Regional Memorial Hospital in Pampanga is expected to accommodate more patients. Health Sec. Ona and Governor Pineda led the inauguration on November 15. Story on page 1. Photo by Ric Gonzales
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – Health Sec. Enrique Ona and Gov. Lilia Pineda led the inauguration of the P60- million building at the Jose Lingad Regional Memorial Hospital (JLRMH) on Tuesday (Nov. 15), seen to decongest Central Luzon’s regional hospital in this city.
Ona and Pineda opened JLRMH’s 110-room building funded by the Department of Health (DOH). Its site was the former Jose Abad Santos Building.
Dr. Venancio Banzon, JLRMH chief of hospital 3, disclosed that the new building “is a big sigh of relief” since they accommodate an average of 600 patients per day. He added that their hospital can only handle about 280 patients before.
“Now, we can avoid having patients confined along hallways,” said Banzon, who is set to retire this year.
In interview with reporters, Ona said the building has at least five operating rooms and one endoscopy room.
Ona said the DOH plans to establish “Call Centers” at JLRMH and other government hospitals in the country solely to address the complaints of people against erring doctors, nurses and personnel.
“In just one call, the DOH can be informed of any complaint against government workers,” he said.
Ona announced that they are set to provide a CT-Scan at JLRMH for its operating rooms. The equipment cost about P5 million each.
For her part, Pineda said her administration worked hard to improve the district and provincial hospitals to lessen the patients at the JLRMH.
She said the provincial government had allotted P25 million for the rehabilitation of the hospital in Macabebe. “Expansion projects are almost done in the Magalang district hospital.”
Pineda added that the DOH will also fund the P25-million two-storey ward building at the Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Hospital (DMMH) in Guagua town. It’s the district hospital of the province.
“The DOH will also fund the project,” she said.
