In spite of political maneuvers and bickering between the Sangguniang Panlalawigan and the Office of the Governor, a four-storey health facility has risen inside the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital compound.

 

Dubbed as the Central Block Building, the facility was first a dream of Gov. Roel Degamo to provide the people of the province a decent hospital through a loan of P340 million where services can be at par with services offered only in private hospitals in the province.

It was like magic, said Provincial Health Officer II-designate, Dr. Henrissa Calumpang, in her welcome remarks during the inauguration and blessing of the facility Wednesday.

She said this is a dream come true. “If there’s a will, there’s a way and that is the political will of Gov. Degamo to pursue the project in spite of limited funds,” Calumpang said.

It has 171 beds, 56 private rooms, 10 semi-private rooms with 20 beds, 10 isolation rooms, 13 wards with 75 beds, and a 10-bed capacity intensive care.

Calumpang said another building will soon rise at the northern portion of the NOPH compound, and that is the P36 million Medical Oxygen Generating Plant funded by the Department of Health.

A new emergency room, worth P12 million with a floor area of 400 square meters, also funded by DOH, will also be constructed next. It can accommodate 70-90 admissions per day and 40 consultations after office hours per day. The building is departmentalized, which houses the pedia patients, OB patients, surgical patients, medical patients, X-ray room, pharmacy and others.

Calumpang informed Degamo that a P10 million funding for additional infrastructure inside the NOPH is available, to be used in the renovation of the main building where the proposed administration office will be located.

Degamo said it is also his dream to have a diagnostic and imaging center to house the different state of the art hospital equipment, to include the magnetic resonance imaging worth P67 million, CT scan, x-ray machines, incubators, ventilators, and laparoscopic machines, among others, all coming from the DOH.

Calumpang had proposed the ground floor of the admin building to be the site of the diagnostic center because it is accessible and can be seen by the public.

With this new, decent and beautiful facility, the governor is pushing hard for the improvement of the kind of service of all health workers at NOPH in seeking their cooperation for the benefit of everybody. Degamo wanted to hire specialist doctors to train local doctors but was put on hold due to non approval of the budget. In fact, work and development of  the parking area  fronting  the main building is also delayed because approval of the budget is stuck before the SP.*JG