Upgraded Carcar City hospital opens in June

CEBU, Philippines - The people of Carcar City will still have to wait until June for their district hospital to reopen.

But the good news is that once it opens it can already give better services and cater to more patients as the provincial government has allotted P30 million for its upgrading to a tertiary level hospital.

In an interview with The FREEMAN, Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Christina B. Giango, said that at present, the province is still in the process of upgrading the hospital to a 110-bed capacity from the present 15-bed capacity.

The hospital has been closed for more than a month already after the expiry of its license last December 31, 2009 and only accepts out-patient services.

With this, the people are concerned because if they have emergency cases, they still have to go to the hospitals in the nearby towns of Barili, Minglanilla and Argao.

Giango explained that it will be risky on the part of the hospital most especially on the personnel if they insist in opening it particularly for admission because they don’t have the right facilities and equipment aside from the fact that its license has already expired.

“Dili pa man gud ta kadawat og admission kay no permit pa ta from DOH (Department of Health) kay 10 beds ra man ang naa andug wa pa man gyud ta ka pa kumpleto og human. Sa una nidawat lang gyud mi og patient bisan risgo gud to personnel kay kung maunsa ang pasyente sila man ang manubag,” Giango said.

According to her, since the hospital has only 10 beds, the services it can give are only up to the primary level and they still need to refer other patients who need surgical assistance to other hospitals with secondary or tertiary level.

By Monday next week, experts on hospital administration and DOH officials will conduct a presentation for the proposal on the equipment that will be used in the hospital. Through this Giango said they will be guided on the right equipment and the personnel will get proper training on how to handle the equipment.

“Ang amo hangyo ba nga sa pagkakaron, for the first six months, mosabot lang usa unta sila (public). Ang focus is to improve the hospital so mo-sacrifice lang usa ta og gamay kay og ma-functional na siya, maayo man sad ang service nga ma-provide sa tertiary level,” Giango said.

The proposed two-floor Carcar District Hospital, as announced by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, will become a provincial hospital, which is in line with the government’s effort to reach out to the indigent patients from far areas who can’t afford to travel to the city for medical treatment. — Antoniette Parce, Correspondent/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)