First 3 floors of new CCMC ‘to open in September’

DECONGESTING VSMMC. To decongest the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Cebu governor-elect Gwen Garcia wants stations set up for patients who don’t need “level III” medical help, while Cebu vice governor-elect Hilario Davide III says he has been upgrading Province-run hospitals since 2013 so patients don’t have to go to the VSMMC. (SunStar file)
DECONGESTING VSMMC. To decongest the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), Cebu governor-elect Gwen Garcia wants stations set up for patients who don’t need “level III” medical help, while Cebu vice governor-elect Hilario Davide III says he has been upgrading Province-run hospitals since 2013 so patients don’t have to go to the VSMMC. (SunStar file)

CEBU City mayor-elect Edgardo Labella wants the first few floors at the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) to be operational the soonest time possible.

Labella said the engineers from the Department of Engineering and Public Works who are overseeing the project told him the first three floors of the new hospital will be open to the public by September.

“This is really something that we really need to look into when I assume office, on how we can fast-track the CCMC project to make it functional, including the wards,” Labella said.

The City earlier hoped to open the first three floors last March, but Phase 2 of the project had to undergo a public bidding. The City then moved the opening to April and then to this month.

The plans for the CCMC were among the matters discussed during the unity and solidarity meeting last Saturday, May 25, 2019, between Cebu governor-elect Gwen Garcia and Labella.

Labella said one of the reasons the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is congested is that it also caters to Cebu City residents since the temporary city hospital offers limited services.

C.E. Padilla Construction Inc., the contractor that undertook Phase 1 of the project, is working on Phase 2, which amounts to P283 million.

Phase 2 entails work on all utilities including plumbing, electrical, fire protection, mechanical, communication and structural finishes.

The first phase of the project was awarded to C.E. Padilla in July 2015 with an approved contract price of P514 million. The amount was raised to P564 million due to some changes in the scope of work.

Meanwhile, Labella said he wants the City Hospitalization Assistance and Medicines Program (Champ) to be available 24 hours a day once he assumes office on July 1.

He also urged hospitals not to turn down patients from Cebu City who can’t come up with the P10,000 deposit.

Despite their political differences, the incoming top officials of the Provincial Government have agreed that there is a need to decongest the VSMMC.

When she assumes the governorship, outgoing Third District Rep. Gwen Garcia wants to coordinate with hospital management on the possibility of setting up stations for patients who do not need “level III” medical help.

Incoming vice governor and outgoing Gov. Hilario Davide III, on the other hand, said he wants to reduce referrals to VSMMC since the Capitol has provincial hospitals in Balamban and in the cities of Bogo, Carcar and Danao.

Aside from this, the Province also has 16 district hospitals spread across the towns, including in the islands of Camotes and Bantayan.

But Garcia said these hospitals are “underutilized.”

“It does not have the necessary equipment, the needed health personnel.... I intend to work closely together with the Provincial Board, with the VSMMC so that we will be able to set up stations where those that do not need level III medical help may be accommodated in our provincial hospitals as well as district hospitals,” she said during a press conference last Saturday.

The governor-elect, though, said that additional funding and resources from the national government will be a lot of help in decongesting the VSMMC.

Davide said the Capitol has been upgrading Province-run hospitals since he assumed the governorship in 2013 so patients don’t have to go to the VSMMC.

“The number one priority of our administration is the hospitals and health care services. Look at the condition of our provincial hospitals. They are now very capable. We’ve been trying to reduce the referrals to VSMMC since we assumed office,” he said.

For this year, the Provincial Health Office’s budget is P1.48 billion. Some P1.2 billion is for the improvement of provincial and district hospitals, while the remaining P254 million is intended for public health programs.

Davide, who wants to chair the committee on health, said with provincial hospitals equipped and able to perform major surgeries, referrals to VSMMC might be reduced. (RVC, RTF with a report from PAC of SuperBalita Cebu)

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