SWU hospital hikes bed capacity to 115

CEBU, Philippines — Southwestern University Medical Center (SWU Med) inaugurated its P155 million new hospital building yesterday, thus increasing its bed capacity from 92 to 115 and improving the quality of its services.

Formerly known as Sacred Heart Hospital since 1951, SWU Med sits on a 2,007-square-property on Urgello Street, Cebu City. It is an affiliate hospital of the SWU Phinma.

The construction of the four-story building comprises the first phase of the entire hospital’s renovation, began in December 2016 and was completed this year.

The new building brings the hospital’s number of beds. It is equipped with a bigger laboratory, radiological laboratory, operating and emergency facilities. It likewise offers improved packaged deals and service cases for the low and middle-income earners and pregnant women. It also features expanded rehabilitation services, vasectomy, CT scan and laparoscopy services, and dialysis center.

SWU Med Vice President for Operations Onek Priagula said the future plans of the hospital are aligned to the master plan of SWU Phinma to complement the needs of the colleges and practical applications.

“SWU Phinma is one of the premier medical schools in the Visayas and Mindanao. With the change in the name, we expect resurgence towards that direction,” Priagula said.

The project’s second phase, which has been ongoing and is targeted to be finished next year, will expand the hospital’s operating rooms and critical care facilities. It is also expected to add more beds, making it a total of 254.  SWU Med has allocated P179 million for this phase.

By 2020, a fifth story will be constructed to house additional offices for the administration department and bedrooms.

Architect Ronald Miranda said the hospital will soon become a quadrant that will house the medical arts building, dentistry and other specializations.

The hospital is also eyeing to increase its manpower. It currently has 34 resident doctors.

Dr. Michelle Yu, dean of the College of Nursing and head of the SWU Med Nursing Department, said they plan to hire 90 to 100 nurses in addition to the existing 86 nurses. They are also looking for two more pediatricians.

Yu said all SWU Phinma faculty members are on active duty at SWU Med to ensure continued mastery of their respective specializations while teaching the students.

“The mission is to be a prominent training hospital. Learning is still there and they can still impart to the students,” she said.

The hospital’s renovation, she adds, is part of the SWU’s “University Town” concept, which aims to integrate the profession and faculty and enhance the educational capacity.

Amid all the improvement in its services, Priagula assures SWU Med will remain a general hospital that caters to the general health care needs of the patients in Cebu with affordable rates.

He said they have partnered with third-party subsidies to help the patients financially. Government employees and even the communities in Sambag 1 and 2 within the SWU complex can also avail of discounts.

Meanwhile, Cebu Provincial Health Office Chief Dr. Rene Catan suggested to SWU to embark on a long-term cooperation with the government in providing specialists such as anaesthesiologists and surgeons across the province.

“We don’t have enough specialists. We hope you can extend your doctors to the communities,” he said.

Priagula welcomed Catan’s proposal, saying they can partner with their existing doctors. He said SWU Med does not have specialist students yet since its residents are into internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, and pediatrics.

“We can coordinate with the different colleges, specifically with the School of Medicine, for the doctors and maybe we can work something out with the province,” he said.