Carcar Provincial Hospital starts admitting patients

CEBU, Philippines - While still not fully operational, the first provincial hospital in Carcar City has started accepting patients since opening softly last June 25.

“There has been considerable improvement,” Governor Gwendolyn Garcia told reporters during yesterday’s inspection of the hospital.

The Carcar Provincial Hospital, which used to accommodate only 10 patients, is now a 100-bed capacity facility, although, it remains operating as a 50-bed capacity hospital with a temporary permit from the Department of Health.

It will be fully operational as a 100-bed capacity hospital after it fulfills the other requirements by DOH such as the presence of surgeons. Medical facility and equipment are already in place.

“I expect this hospital to be inaugurated fully by the month of August,” Garcia said.

So far, the hospital has admitted 67 patients from towns in southern Cebu. 

Carcar City is considered a strategic location for the provincial hospital because it is the convergence point of people coming from the southeast and southwest parts of Cebu Province.

At least two patients admitted at the Carcar hospital yesterday came from Moalboal and Aloguinsan.

Other provincial hospitals are being constructed in Balamban in the west and in Danao City in the north. It is the objective of the provincial government to decongest the overcrowded Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City. 

Garcia earlier admitted they have encountered challenges in building the Carcar Provincial Hospital, but the kinks and delays were reportedly expected because it was the first time the Province established a provincial hospital. The construction started in December 2006.

Provincial Engr. Eulogio Pelayre said it was not easy to come up with a design for the provincial hospital since they had to get the approval of the DOH central office in Manila.

Garcia, nevertheless, assured that the delays in Carcar will no longer happen in the construction of the district hospitals in Balamban and Danao City, which is still ongoing. The governor will also inspect the two hospitals to ensure that construction is on schedule. — (FREEMAN)