New Sta. Ana hospital inaugurated

MANILA, Philippines - The modern, fully airconditioned, 10-story city hospital in Sta. Ana is finally open to serve the poor residents not only from Manila’s sixth district but the entire city as well.

Mayor Alfredo Lim and Vice Mayor Isko Moreno led yesterday the ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the hospital’s inauguration.

Also attending the event were secretary to the mayor lawyer Rafaelito Garayblas chief of staff Ric de Guzman, Liga ng Mga Barangay president Philip Lacuna and his brother-councilor Dennis Lacuna, and District 6 congressional candidate Sandy Ocampo, among others.

Dr. Lucio Tan and wife Carmen, whose Tan Yan Kee Foundation was also instrumental in the construction of the said hospital, were also present in the affair.

The said hospital, according to city engineer Armand Andres, sits on an 8,000-square-meter lot with a floor area of at least 5,000 square meters and has a 500-bed capacity. The opening of the said hospital, constructed by the Freyssinet (F.F. Cruz) Filipino Corp., marks the fruition of Lim’s vision since he became mayor in 1992, of building one city hospital giving free medical services for the poor residents for each of Manila’s six districts.

Thus, the city now comes complete with one hospital for each district namely Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (first district); Ospital ng Tondo (second); Jose Abad Santos Mother and Child Hospital (third); Ospital ng Sampaloc (fourth) and now, Sta. Ana Hospital (sixth). Before assuming his first incumbency, Manila had only one such hospital, the Ospital ng Maynila located in the fifth district so that when he became mayor, he just had it refurbished before proceeding to build other city hospitals.

The said hospitals are headed respectively by Dr. Fidel Chua, Dr. Marlon Millares, Dr. Martin Teodoro, Dr. Janet Tan, Dr. Mario Lato and Dr. Jun Cando.

On Monday, Lim and Moreno inaugurated the newly built three-story annex of the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center which houses the hospital’s out-patient and radiology departments. In his speech, Lim told the residents who trooped to the site to take a look at the new hospital that would serve their needs free of charge that the hospital rightfully belongs to them, since the city’s projects are built out of taxpayers’ money.

He likewise credited Moreno, who is concurrently presiding officer of the city council and the 22 councilors allied with him, for their support in passing measures that would help the city government realize fruitful projects such as the building of hospitals and public school buildings that cater to poor but deserving students from Manila by providing them with free education.

For his part, Moreno said he and the Council’s majority bloc will always support Lim’s efforts to make life easier for the poor people of Manila, stressing that the residents deserve no less.

“For nine long years, the past administration of ex-environment secretary Lito Atienza did not bother building even a single health center, moreso, a hospital to augment the already existing ones, even as the city’s hospitals then were totally neglected, that residents who go there for supposed free treatment are made to buy even petty needs such as cotton and syringe,” Moreno said.

Lim said when he left City Hall in 1998, he handed down to Atienza the blueprint for the construction of one hospital each in the third and sixth districts. But Atienza did not bother to have it implemented for unclear reasons, he said.