BUGUIAS, Benguet – The provincial government earmarked some P40 million to put up a building for the Northern Benguet district hospital in barangay Bekes, here as part of the efforts to improve the facilities and services of the satellite hospitals in the different parts of the province.
Gov. Melchor Diclas informed local officials and residents of the municipality that the funds had been made available by the provincial government to further improve the said hospital and increase its health care services so that it will be able to cater to the treatment of patients being rushed to the facility.
He pointed out that the improvement of the delivery of health care services by the different health facilities in the province is one of the major programs of the provincial government that is why it is working out the provision of sufficient funds to support the aforesaid endeavor.
The governor underscored that the provision of better health care for the people remains to be the utmost priority of concerned government agencies and the local government during the prevalence of the Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 that is why efforts are being done to sustain the improvement of existing health care facilities to cater to the increasing needs of the residents for quality health care services with the existence of the pandemic.
Aside from the funds for the proposed construction of an additional building for the Northern Benguet district hospital, mayor Ruben Tindaan disclosed that the provincial government will also provide some P5 million for the completion of the municipal fire station and another P5 million for the town’s pubic market facility.
According to him, the municipal government does not have sufficient funds to complete the aforesaid projects that is why it decided to request the provincial government and the Office of Benguet caretaker congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap to help in sourcing out available resources that could be tapped for the immediate completion of such projects.
The local chief executive pointed out that concerned government agencies and the local government had been pre-occupied in addressing the issues and concerns that have cropped during the pandemic that started more than a year ago.
Buguias is one of the 5 first-class municipalities in the province that relies solely on agriculture and business activities as its major source of income unlike in other similarly situated towns where their income is derived from large-scale and small-scale mining activities.
Apart from the Northern Benguet district hospital, the other provincial government-run hospitals include the Atok district hospital in Atok, the Dennis Molintas Memorial hospital in Bokod, the Kapangan Community Medicare hospital in Kapangan and the Itogon district hospital in Itogon.
Tindaan expressed his gratitude for the support being provided by the provincial government and the Office of the Benguet caretaker congressman for their unwavering and uncompromising support to all the endeavors of the municipal government in significantly improving the existing situation in the municipality, especially in allowing the people to be able to cope up with the difficult situation that they are encountering.
By Hent
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis