Tuesday, July 17, 2007 Speak out: Government investment in housing By Ramon Jaluag
I AM afraid I am beginning to fall for this feisty lady, Gov. Gwendolyn F. Garcia.
Her feat of pulling through with the construction of the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) against all odds and in record time was awe-inspiring.
Her masterful victory in the last election had me eating crow for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Then she titillated me no end with her announcement to have the rocky road leading to my doorstep in Barangay Sulangan, Bantayan paved.
There’s just one more thing to complete my conversion.
If only Governor Garcia could build a provincial hospital for underprivileged Cebuanos.
I could be hers totally, warts and all, forever.
Seriously now, is it really too much to ask for this?
Come to think of it, if a tremendous amount of government funds could be spent fort the CICC and its construction rushed as if our lives depended on it, why can’t the crying need for a well-equipped tertiary medical facility for the province be addressed with equal zeal and urgency?
One Cebu is supposed to be the country’s premier province, but where do the afflicted of its poor residents who need medical care that district hospitals cannot provide go to?
Where else but to that overflowing house of misery called the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) whose capacity to serve has, sad to say, declined through the years.
Imagine my hurt when I, with only P40 to my name and nowhere to go, sought treatment for an infected diabetic foot at said hospital last year. Personnel at the emergency room told me to go elsewhere because there was simply no room for one more patient.
The failure of past provincial leaderships to build a provincial hospital is a monstrosity I cannot comprehend.
Did they think that because Cebuanos are a sturdy lot, being a corn-eating people, are also impervious to disease, therefore do not have the need for a provincial hospital?
Or maybe they did not like the idea of investing a good chunk of Capitol money on a hospital and funding its operations.
Perhaps, they simply did not have the vast resources that Governor Garcia now has at her disposal.
No matter how many times district hospitals in the towns are upgraded, it will never suffice the basic need for a well-equipped and responsive tertiary (or provincial) hospital.
Governor, you‘ve had your way with the CICC. Have mercy on us, the destitute, derelict and afflicted of your constituents who cannot afford the cost of private hospitalization.
Build that provincial hospital now and be remembered as one who made life for us less burdensome and more bearable.
