Eversley's ISO a first in VisMin

CEBU, Philippines - The Eversley Child's Sanitarium in Mandaue City became the lone government-run hospital in the  Visayas and Mindanao that was granted a certification from the International Organization for Standardization.

With the ISO certification, hospital authorities said this will be a big challenge for them to provide better and quality services to the public.

The ISO certification was formally handed to the hospital officials during an awarding ceremony yesterday morning attended by Assistant Secretary for the Visayas Cluster Dr. Paulyn Jean Ubial of the Department of Health, Sixth District Rep. Gabriel Luis Quisumbing, and top officials from the Department of Health Central Visayas.

Hospital chief Dr. Lope Ma. Carabana said that they are proud to receive the first ISO certificate, a first among all government-run hospitals in southern Philippines.

Eversley Child's Sanitarium services patients not only from Mandaue City, but also from neighboring cities and municipalities in northern Cebu.

Despite being hounded by the lack of funds, the hospital, according to Carabana, has tried its best to address the needs of patients admitted to the hospital.

For his part, Quisumbing said he was happy with the ISO certification, adding that the improvement of the hospital's services has been at the forefront of his priorities as a congressman. He said he filed a bill to upgrade Eversley Child’s Sanitarium from 50-bed to 100-bed capacity hospital.

While the bill was already passed at the House of Representatives, Quisumbing said that it needs a Senate version.

ISO certification is a management tool used to ensure that policies are in compliance with ISO standards. ISO is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. (FREEMAN)