THE Bacolod City Council approved a resolution requesting Mayor Evelio Leonardia to study the possibility of constructing a city-owned public hospital for Bacolod City from available sources of funds that the city may derive from.
Councilor Renecito Novero, majority floor leader, on Friday, November 20, 2020, said it was a unanimous resolution addressed to the mayor to study the possibility of constructing a city-owned public hospital for Bacolod City to be funded from available sources of funds.
“I presented it by unanimous motion,” he said.
Before its approval, Councilor Wilson Gamboa authored a resolution requesting the mayor to consider using the available credit in banks in building a city-owned public hospital for the City of Bacolod.
Gamboa said on November 26, 2018, the City Council granted the authority to sign a P1.7-billion loan agreement with the Development Bank of the Philippines and the same was ratified on December 10, 2018.
He said on August 16, 2019, Leonardia led the signing of the agreement for the P1.7 billion from Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) obtained by the city government to fund its four flagship projects, which includes the P800-million construction of the Bacolod MassKara Coliseum with outdoor arena; P350-million development of Progreso Village Relocation Site; P350-million Bacolod City College Site Development and Facilities; and P200-million construction of roads and bridges.
“There are still available credit lines for the City of Bacolod to be availed of,” he added.
Bacolod City is one of the most populated cities in the country with 561,875 residents as per the 2015 national census, which makes this bustling metropolis the most populated city in Western Visayas.
Gamboa said with only six private hospitals and one tertiary government hospital with only a 400-bed capacity that serves a daily average of 724 patients from the whole province, hospitals in the city are overwhelmed in catering to mild to moderate Covid-19 patients, leaving severe and critical patients behind.
Gamboa said on October 19, the Senate Committee on Health and Demography already approved House Bill 6731 authored by Representative Greg Gasataya along with Senate Bill 1647, which was filed by Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, establishing the Bacolod City General Hospital.
“Even the Senate approval establishing the Bacolod City General Hospital, there is no guarantee to allocate funds for the construction since the priority of the National Government is the Covid-19 pandemic assistance and its impact on our economy,” he said.
He added the Rational of the Kalusugan Pangkalahatan Execution Plan and Implementation Arrangements under Department of Health Order No. 2011-0188 provides for improved access to quality hospitals and health care facilities through accelerated building and upgrading of health care facilities.