DOH-7 complex soon to rise at SRP

CEBU, Philippines - A P270-million complex of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) will soon rise at the South Road Properties in Cebu City.

The complex, which will be built on a two-hectare prime property, will house the new regional health office, a blood center, and a warehouse.

Of the initial P266 million budget, P130 million will be spent for the construction of new DOH-7 office, P123 million for the blood center, and P13 million for the warehouse.

The construction of the warehouse and the blood center will start before the year ends.

The blood center, which will soon serve as the sub-national blood unit, will be a replica of the Quezon City-based blood center, according to Health Secretary Paulyn Rosell-Ubial.

Ubial, together with DOH-7 Regional Director Jaime Bernadas, graced yesterday the groundbreaking of the site donated by the city government in 2014.

For the last five years, Bernadas said, they have been lobbying for the transfer of the regional office.

“With Secretary Paulyn Rosell-Ubial, we are very grateful that she facilitated the initial release of P130 million for the new regional office, not to mention the other edifices that will be sprouting there,” he said.

The P130 million is only allotted for the first phase of the new regional office that will house the different support offices, including the Food and Drug Administration, the Bureau of Quarantine, the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, and the Cebu Provincial Warehouse.

“All transactions for health (programs and services) will be done in one place… Altogether, the development of DOH will be focused in one area,” he said.

Bernadas said that once they transfer to their new office, their current office on S. Osmeña Boulevard will serve as Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center’s extension hospital and administrative office. (FREEMAN)