BAUKO, Mountain Province – The planned put up of a Cordillera drug rehabilitation center within the premises of the State-run Luis Hora Regional Memorial Hospital (LHRMH) will be realized amidst some problems on the land where the facility will be erected following initial orders handed down for the project implementers to start working on non-controversial aspects of the multi-million project.
LHRMH medical chief Dr. Eduardo Calpito explained the contractor was ordered to evaluate and assess the overall situation of the project site and ascertain the non-controversial aspects of the project which should be already implemented while awaiting for whatever developments that will transpire relative to the issuance of the tree cutting permit and the resolution of the claim of a land owner over a portion of the area where the facility will be built.
“We believe that there is a need for the winning contractor to work on the non-controversial aspects of the project so that we will be able to start the noble project of the government specifically the establishment of a regional drug rehabilitation center to cater to the rehabilitation requirements of drug surrenderers or those who are into the use of prohibited drugs,” Dr. Calpito stressed.
The LHRMH official claimed that one of the important documents being awaited for the project to push through is the tree cutting permit which will be issued by the central office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) so that the contractor can fully mobilize for the prosecution of the project.
Initially, the health department allotted some P65 million for the put up of the regional drug rehabilitation center which is expected to be spent for this year prior to the release of some P153 million for the completion of the project.
According to him, there is a need for the project to commence so that the institution’s cash-based performance in the implementation of their projects will not be affected this year considering that whatever will be the funds that will not be spent will automatically rever to the general fund at the end of the fiscal year.
Calpito pointed out that LHRMH is considered to be one of the luckiest medical institutions in the country because it will serve as host to a regional drug rehabilitation center that will add up to the services that will be made available for the increasing number of patients seeking medical attention from the health facility.
He underscored the importance of establishing the Cordillera drug rehabilitation center in the designated area of the hospital premises for the region to have its own drug rehabilitation center so that individuals needed the interventions of the facility will no longer go to the Ilocos Region or Central Luzon just to undergo the rigid process of rehabilitation.
He claimed that the initial preparatory works that could proceed without the tree cutting permit will be the construction of the access roads and several structures while the other facilities of the drug rehabilitation center will be implemented once the area will be cleared from the trees that are in the area once the permit shall have been issued by the environment department within the next several months as it is now due for action by higher authorities.
By HENT
