LAGAWE, Ifugao – Some P95 million was earmarked by the health department under its 2018 budget to continue the construction of the various buildings of the Ifugao General Hospital to make the health facility operational the soonest.
Dra. Lakshmi Legaspi, regional office of the Cordillera office of the Department of Health (DOH-CAR), said the previous structures that were constructed are still undergoing evaluation and assessment by technical personnel of concerned agencies and the local government to ascertain whether or not they will still be useful subject to the conduct of retrofitting so as not to render the funds used as waste of taxpayer’s money.
She added the funds set for the construction of other components of the hospital are the unused funds that were previously allocated by the agency purposely for the said hospital, thus, the need to put in place the needed structures before the provision of the needed units of equipment for the operation of the hospital.
“We are looking forward to making the facility operational so that health workers will be able to cater to the health needs of people seeking medical attention from the hospital,” Legaspi stressed.
The construction of the various buildings of the Ifugao General Hospital was the subject of controversy in the past after it was discovered that the structures built were allegedly substandard following the series of tests conducted to facilitate the payment of the work accomplished by the contractors.
Legaspi pointed out the importance of making the Ifugao General Hospital fully operational because of the government’s desire to bring quality health services to the grassroots level so that people needing simple and complicated health interventions could be immediately given attention by the concerned health workers.
According to him, the completion of the structures and facilities of the Ifugao General Hospital is one of the priority programs of the DOH-CAR considering that the provision of its units of equipment and the completion of its structures had been provided with the adequate funding from the agency over the past several years.
With the inclusion of the P95 million funds for the Ifugao General Hospital in next year’s allocation from the agency, the DOH-CAR official stated residents and visitors alike will be assured of quality health services by the competent health workers considering that its operation will be under the jurisdiction of the agency as one of its administered hospital in the region.
She asserted the need for the immediate operation of the hospital so that individuals suffering from complicated health problems will no longer have to travel to Nueva Vizcaya or to Mountain Province to have their illnesses given immediate medical attention which will result to lesser inconveniences on the part of the patients and their relatives.
Legaspi assured Ifugao provincial and municipal officials that the health department is inclined to pursue the full operation of the hospital once the facilities shall have been completed for better health programs for the people of the province.
By HENT
