HOUSE Speaker Lord Allan Velasco has committed to provide an additional budget for the establishment of the Bacolod City General Hospital, Representative Greg Gasataya,said Monday, September 6, 2021.
Gasataya said Velasco was in Bacolod City Friday, September 3, and he presented to him the perspective for the construction of Bacolod City General Hospital.
He did not disclose the amount that Velasco will provide.
He said the amount to be given by Velasco will augment the P250-million fund earlier allotted by the national government for the hospital construction.
On June 24 this year, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Acct 11564, creating the Bacolod City General Hospital and appropriating funds for its establishment.
Gasataya authored the House bill at the House of Representatives while its counterpart in the Senate was sponsored by Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.
Zubiri also earlier assured the City Government of Bacolod that he will find other sources, starting with an allocation of P200 million to augment its budget for the construction of Bacolod City General Hospital.
Gasataya said he will also ask the Department of Health (DOH) to visit the city to finalize the location of the hospital so that the construction may start in early 2022.
He said about five private property owners in Bacolod City are already willing to donate their lots for the construction of the Bacolod District Hospital.
Under the guidelines of the DOH, a tertiary general hospital offers services such as family medicine, pediatrics, internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency services, outpatient services, and ancillary and support services such as clinical laboratory, imaging facility and pharmacy.
Facilities such as physical medicine and rehabilitation unit, ambulatory surgical clinic, dialysis clinic, tertiary clinic laboratory with histopathology, a blood bank and third-level x-ray may also be included.