JICA funding tapped for P462-million Aurora hospital

BALER, Aurora, Philippines  – The provincial government has tapped the Japan International Cooperation Agency to fund the construction of a P462-million new Aurora Memorial Hospital in this capital town.

Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo said that the new building will have a 50 bed-capacity, double the 25 bed-capacity of the existing AMH at the town proper, and would offer level-2 service capability.

Speaking during her two-hour long 5th State-of-the-Province-Address during the 10th special session of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan at the SP session hall here Tuesday, Angara-Castillo said that the grant assistance for the new hospital building, which would be constructed in Barangay Reserva, was firmed up following the dispatch of a JICA preparatory study mission which signed the minutes of discussions at the JICA office on Feb. 3.

She said that Sen. Edgardo Angara donated the site for the hospital building which is accessible to the four central towns of Dipaculao, Ma. Aurora, San Luis and this capital town. The new AMH would be converted into a general hospital and would be used as teaching hospital for midwifery and nursing students of the University of the Philippines Manila-School of Health Sciences.

A building of the UPM-SHS would also be constructed by UP Manila adjacent to the hospital. Specialist doctors such as surgeons, obstetricians and gynecologists would be assigned in the new hospital on a full-time basis.

Expounding on her six-point development agenda code-named HEALTH which stands for health, education, agriculture, livelihood, tourism and environment management and human resource development, Angara-Castillo reported that the provincial government has increased by nine percent its budget for health to P81.9 million from its 2007 budget of P69.8 million.

Progress

Health being one of the cornerstones of the provincial government’s priorities, she said that the budget of the provincial health office was likewise hiked by 12 percent to P63.38 million for 2009 from P56.29 million last year.

She said the four hospitals under the provincial government – the AMH, the Casiguran District Hospital, the Ma. Aurora Community Hospital and the Dingalan Community Hospital – earned a combined income of P3.7 million last year.

To further improve the delivery of health services, the provincial government appointed health professionals and workers, reviewed the staffing pattern and plantilla positions, upgraded hospital facilities, constructed health centers and procured ambulances, distributed PhilHealth cards to 6,000 households, conducted medical missions and started formulating a comprehensive nutrition program for the province.

In the field of education, Angara-Castillo reported that the provincial government completed four schoolbuildings, hired 159 teachers and provided scholarships to 599 students.

In agriculture, the governor said the province attained in 2008 a 152 percent rice sufficiency when its rice production reached 66,461 metric tons for rice planted in 18,462 hectares that yielded an average of 3.6 metric tons per hectare, for a surplus production of 11,584 metric tons.

Part of the credit, she said, could be attributed to the operations of the P130-million, Korean government-funded Rice Processing Complex which was cited by the evaluation mission of the Korean International Cooperation Agency as “successful” in terms of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. 

She said that the provincial government, with the help of the National Irrigation Administration, restored and rehabilitated 11 communal irrigation systems at a cost of P24.4 million, and established the 150-hectare Aurora Provincial Coconut Research and Development Center in Barangay Dibaraybay, Dinalungan.

In the area of livelihood, the governor said the provincial government, through the public service employment office, provided P1.5 million in livelihood funds to eight groups, gave out P3.22 million for the summer jobs of 717 students under the special program for employment of students; facilitated the release of 660 passports under the passport serbilis program and gave funding aid to 121 individuals and two groups under its self-employment assistance program and strengthened the operations of cooperatives with funding aid worth P1.8 million.