LEGAZPI
CITY (July 13) - “Legazpi City Hospital is not yet ready”, said
Dr. Jose Relacion in an interview by DZGB News over “Tingog kan Banwaan” program in DZGB-AM,
Thursday.
He
made the clarification to correct the wrong public perception that it is now open when they
conducted a dry run for Out Patient
Department (OPD) in July 8 to test how to control the inflow of patients and
determine if their planned strategies will be feasible once the health facility
formally open.
Dr.
Legacion said that during the dry run there were 99 selected patients for
medical, surgical and dental services from
Barangays Bitano and Kapantawan. He further said that the dry run aims to determine
if OPD will be acceptable to the people and to see to it that the state of the
art health facility will not be overcrowded with patients inside while doing
consultations.
He
said that there are final finishing touches that has to be done and some
repairs for the felt need of the facility. “Mayor Noel Rosal will contact technicians from Manila
accredited by the World Medical Relief
Inc. (WMR) to test the medical equipments donated by the group if it is
functioning and needs calibration for the operation of the city hospital, Dr. Legacion added.
It
may be recalled that Mayor Rosal had
acquired a P43 million worth of medical supplies and equipment from WMR based in
Michigan, USA. Rosal cited the city hospital as a state-of-the-art
public hospital which will be one of the most modern public health facilities
to serve the medical needs of patients in Albay and in the region.
The
Legazpi City Hospital, classified as level one hospital will have medical
equipments including a dialysis
machine that can be availed at lower rates. It can also offer medical services to less serious cases, simple surgical
operations and emergency treatment among others, Dr. Legacion said.
The
health facility was constructed through a P60 million funding from the
Department of Health (DOH) and P20 million counterpart of the local government
of Legazpi City. It is located within a
3,000-square-meter lot owned by the city government inside the eight-hectare
central business district of the city. (Mar de la Cruz with Al Armario and Pio
Fernandez)