CEBU, Philippines - After sustaining serious structural damage following Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earth-quake, the Cebu City Medical Center is set to be demolished before it collapses and causes more problems.
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama announced this yesterday after he escorted Vice President Jejomar Binay who visited the hospital, as well as the Basilica del Sto. Nino, which lost its bell tower to the strongest quake in recent Cebuano history.
Upon seeing the situation at the damaged hospital, Binay recommended the closure of CCMC, Rama said.
“The best and most practical option is to demolish the building. It’s just too dangerous if we leave the structure at that considering we are still experiencing aftershocks,†Rama yesterday told reporters.
The mayor said that he will come up with an executive order to expedite the execution of the demolition of the city-run hospital building, which was found unfit for occupancy following an inspection by city and private engineers.
While the 300-bed hospital building remains unusable, CCMC will temporarily operate at the Bureau of Fire Protection compound, located right across the building.
Yesterday, tents were set up outside the BFP building to cater to outpatient cases, the entrance lobby was made the emergency room, the covered court as the adult ward, while the chapel was converted into an infant and pediatric ward.
To accommodate CCMC operations, the City Fire Department office was transferred to the Parian Fire Substation, while the BFP regional office was moved to the ground floor of the Cebu City Sports Center.
According to the city government, a total of 109 patients were admitted last Tuesday but the number has decreased following an agreement between the mayor and major hospitals in the city to accommodate patients from CCMC who needed better medical attention. The hospitals who accommodated the city’s request were the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, Cebu Doctors University Hospital, Perpetual Succour Hospital, Chong Hua Hospital, Visayas Community Medical Center, and St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital.
Rama said the City Hospitalization and Medicines Program (CHAMP) is closely monitoring the patients transferred to these hospitals, who were admitted despite not giving a down payment through a special arrangement with the city government.
Committee on Health, Hospital Services, and Sanitation chairperson, Councilor Lea Japson, said that even before the quake, there has already been a need to demolish the city hospital building.
“This is precisely why former mayor Tomas Osmena wanted to demolish CCMC, not because he wanted to scrap the city hospital but because he wanted to have a new one instead of merely renovating,†Japson said.
The councilor stressed the need to evaluate the structural stability of the BFP building, too, knowing that it also sustained cracks after the earthquake.
Rama said the construction of a new hospital building will depend on the joint efforts of the local and national governments, with the help of the private sector.
“With the vice president personally witnessing our situation, we are hoping that he will be a champion for us, especially at the coming Cabinet meeting so that a new CCMC can rise soon,†Rama said.
He also said that the City Council can also help by passing a resolution and helping the executive department in sourcing funds for the construction.
Committee on Budget and Finance chairperson, Councilor Margarita Osmena, said the council is very much willing to help as long as “he shows the fund source and availability of the funds.â€
“Everyone sees and knows that this matter is of priority. But makasud ang supplemental budget kung naa tay kwarta,†Osmena said.
The 52-year-old CCMC was built through an ordinance in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, Rama got irked upon learning that Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Mar Roxas and Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) Secretary Joseph Emilio Abaya visited CCMC yesterday morning without informing the city government.
“Manulod man sila didto nga wala nagpahibalo. If they really wanted to know the situation in the city, then they should ask the city officials. I do not demand permission but I just wanted proper information,†Rama told The Freeman.
The mayor said he only learned about the presence of Abaya and Roxas inside the city-owned hospital when a CCMC staff nurse called him up.
“When I spoke with the nurse and she told me they were there, I asked the nurse to hand the phone to Mar. Then I asked them why they were there.
Furthermore, I told him that should they want to know information about the city and the extent of the damage that the city has incurred from the earthquake, then they should attend the regular command conference that we are having at the City Hall. He said he will be sending a representative but it’s almost evening and no one came,†Rama explained.
Furthermore, Rama stressed that he was also not properly informed about President Aquino’s visit to Cebu last Wednesday.
“When the earthquake happened, I tried to call up the president, his secretaries, even Rene Almendras. None of them answered me. Then I got a direct call from the vice president. The vice president’s visit was properly relayed to me. That’s why I got a little bit disenchanted especially when I learned about the cabinet secretaries at CCMC,†Rama added. —/QSB (FREEMAN)