10-bed hospital to reduce LGU's medical costs by 50%

By Benjie S. De Yro

Friday 20th of July 2012

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan, July 20 (PIA) -- The local government of Calayan will be able to reduce medical expenses by 50 percent once the town puts up a 10-bed community hospital this year.

Vice mayor Florencio Guzman, Jr said the construction will start any time this month. However, he said bad weather condition in Northern Luzon may cause delay in construction.

Calayan is a recipient of a P10-million project grant from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) through the Asian Development Bank. The remaining P7 million of the total P17-million cost of hospital construction will come from loans by the local government unit (LGU).

Mayor Alfonso Llopis of Calayan said the town spends between P2 million to P3 million on medical assistance alone.

“The hospital will be a great help to our people as this will be the first hospital in the municipality,” Llopis told the PIA.

Travelling from Calayan to the mainland--via an outrigger boat travel from Aparri, Santa Ana and Claveria--takes about four to five hours, making it difficult for residents to bring their sick to mainland Cagayan.

During the typhoon months, the island is virtually isolated from the rest of the country.

To prepare the municipality for the operation of said medical infrastructure, the local government unit has assigned a new municipal health officer funded by the LGU while another medical officer will be requested from the Department of Health under the "Doctors to the Barrio" program.

The municipality only has three nurses at present but Llopis said they will hire additional health officers to serve the growing medical needs of the constituents. (BSY/PIA 2, Cagayan)