THE construction of the President Corazon Aquino Health Center in Baseco which is now being built as a general hospital, is now 65 percent complete.
This was announced by Manila Mayor Isko Moreno, who said that eight months since construction began, the said hospital is now nearing completion and will be the seventh hospital being run by the city government.
Currently, the local government is operating six city hospitals under the supervision of Vice Mayor and now incoming Mayor Honey Lacuna as head of the city’s health cluster. These are the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (GABMMC), the Ospital ng Tondo, Justice Abad Santos General Hospital, Ospital ng Sampaloc, Ospital ng Maynila and the Sta. Ana Hospital, located in Districts 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, respectively and all of which provide free health services to the residents.
“Pangarap ko po na mayroong sariling pampublikong ospital sa loob ng Baseco dahil kapag may mga nadi-disgrasya o emergency, bawat oras ay mahalaga. ‘Yung mga ganoong pagkakataon ang gusto nating agapan at bigyan ng solusyon sa pamamagitan ng pagtatayo ng malalapit na ospital sa mga komunidad. Makapagliligtas tayo ng maraming buhay kung mayroong malapit at kompleto sa kagamitan na ospital,” Moreno said.
The mayor said that the President Corazon Aquino Health Center in Baseco was initially built by then Mayor Alfredo S. Lim and is now just being upgraded into a general hospital, on the suggestion of GABMMC director Dr. Ted Martin.
Martin broached the idea of turning the said health center into a general hospital so that the residents in the area no longer need to go farther for emergency reasons, thus saving time and money.
Lacuna said the soon-to-rise, three-storey, fully-operational general hospital is meant to better serve the some 100,000 residents of the said community.
According to Moreno, the name of the said hospital will be the same, in deference to the late President Corazon Aquino and Mayor Fred Lim who originally had the said health center built in her memory.
The mayor said that unlike other politicians, he is not into the habit of erasing the legacy, credit or memory of predecessors by tearing down projects and renaming them.
“Ayoko na pagpalit ng administrasyon, buburahin na lang… nananakit tayo ng damdamin pag ganun. As a matter of respect to Mayor Lim and President Cory Aquino na naglingkod sa Maynila at sa bansa, ito ang aming paglingon sa nakaraan, patuloy naming i-immortalize those who have served our city and I am comfortable and okay with that,” Moreno said.
Moreno said that with the new hospital, the residents of Baseco need no longer travel all the way to the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (GABMMC) headed by Dr. Martin as its director. Said hospital is nearest to Baseco although it is located in the first district of Manila.
It was learned from Andres that the features and amenities of the said 50-bed hospital will include the following: a 24/7, fully-operational emergency room with community inclusive outpatient department; digital x-ray equipment for radiology department; laboratory and central diagnostics department; centralized medical gas system with oxygen supply line; a pharmacy;isolation wards; a dietary department; male and female wards; a maternity department; pediatric ward; surgery and internal medicine department; a service elevator dedicated for patients in bed and a passenger elevator with a capacity of 11 to 14 persons. (Baby Cuevas)
