LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Go Yap formally turned over to the administration of the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) an additional high flow oxygen ventilator machine for the hospital’s use in the treatment of critical Corona virus disease (COVID) 2019 patients and other individuals needing the same equipment.
Yap was accompanied by ACT-CIS Secretary-General Jeffrey Soriano, his Chief of Staff Kevin Edward See, and officials and employees of his congressional district office led by Anthony Kuan, during the simple turnover of the state-of-the art equipment to the hospital administration last Saturday.
The high flow oxygen ventilator machine was purchased by Congressman Yap from his personal funds to help augment the existing ventilators of the hospital to simultaneously provide the needed health care treatment to critical COVID patients and other individuals who need the same to cope with their existing illnesses.
Earlier, Congressman Yap donated to the hospital some P2.5 million worth of needed personal protective equipment (PPEs), alcohol and other medical supplies, to improve the capacity of the hospital to serve the increasing number of suspected COVID patients, among other individuals, who need similar treatment.
Congressman Yap claimed that BeGH is the first government hospital outside the National Capital Region (NCR) to be equipped with the said state-of-the-art hospital equipment which has been exclusively designed for respiratory patients to allow them to recover from their illnesses.
BeGH officials expressed their sincerest gratitude to Congressman Yap for his passion and dedication to provide quality public service to the people of Benguet despite being a caretaker, saying that such a unique quality of a philanthropist is worthy of emulation by local officials and aspiring politicians as there is a need for them to move out of their comfort zones to be able to render service to their constituents.
Yap committed to exert extra effort in sourcing out available resources from the concerned government agencies that could be given to BeGH and other district hospitals in the province to improve the delivery of quality health care services to patients seeking the appropriate medical attention from the premier health facility in the province.
BeGH is currently under the management, control and operation of the provincial government after the same was devolved to it pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines that mandated the devolution of health and social welfare services to the local governments.
The hospital is operating both as a government hospital and an economic enterprise based on the plan approved by the Japan International Cooperating Agency (JICA) after the latter funded its rehabilitation and upgrading in 1998 and 2000 by virtue of a multi-million peso grant that was given by the international funding agency for the said purpose.
By Hent
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis
