Mayor Evelio Leonardia is confident that Bacolod will soon have its own government-run hospital, an issue that was amplified by his detractors at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as the city has to rely on private hospitals and Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital for patients’ admission.
Leonardia said that with the sponsorship of a senate version of the proposed hospital bill by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri and the backing of Sen. Bong Go, who is closed to Malacanang, the chances of the project being realized soon is almost a done deal.
The mayor said that Zubiri personally phoned him to confirm that he is sponsoring a senate version of the bill.
Authored by Bacolod lone district Cong. Greg Gasataya, the House Bill 6731, otherwise known as Bacolod General Hospital, was approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading last June.
Under the guidelines of the Department of Health, a tertiary general hospital offers services such as Family Medicine, Pediatrics, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Emergency Services, Outpatient Services, and Ancilliary and Support Services such as clinical laboratory, imaging facility, and pharmacy. Along with these, facilities such as Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, Ambulatory Surgical Clinic, Dialysis Clinic, Tertiary Clinical Lab with Histopathology, a Blood Bank, and 3rd Level X-Ray may also be included.
Meanwhile, Leonardia appealed to his political enemies not to sabotage the proposed Bacolod coliseum-museum that will soon rise in a property donated by the Yanson Family in Brgy. Tangub.
He reiterated that the construction of the P163 million museum-coliseum would be financed differently. He stressed that both projects could go hand-in-hand with Gasataya’s proposed General Hospital Bill to be funded separately once the bill is passed and becomes a law.
If we support these, this can benefit the future of Bacolod, he concluded.
