KOLAMBUGAN, Lanao del Norte (PIA) — Residents in this municipality will soon have improved health care services as a new provincial hospital will soon be constructed.
The provincial government held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Kolambugan Provincial Hospital to improve healthcare access and quality for the residents of the town and the entire province.
Dr. Sierra J. Urmenita, hospital chief, recommended acquiring nearly seven hectares of land along the national highway to support the development of the new facility. The new hospital site, located in Purok 4, Barangay Rebucon, was chosen after identifying the limitations of the current hospital, which occupies a small, non-expandable area on a cliffside.
“The new Kolambugan Provincial Hospital will not only bring modern facilities and advanced medical services to the area but also serve as a beacon of hope, a symbol of progress, and a place where health, healing, and humanity come together,” she said.
Meanwhile, Gov. Imelda “Angging” Quibranza Dimaporo expressed gratitude to the landowners for offering the site at an affordable price and acknowledged their vital role in advancing healthcare services in the area. She highlighted her administration’s dedication to improving healthcare, which is her second priority after livelihood, especially as her term draws to a close.
“Hopefully, in God’s grace, as you know, this is my last term, and I can still be of service to the people of Lanao del Norte nga I will still be used as an instrument nga makatabang ako sa probinsya, and I will see to it that allocations of our hospital nga mabutangan jud kana,” she said.
(Hopefully, with God’s grace, as you know, this is my last term. I hope I can still be of service to the people of Lanao del Norte. I pray to be used as an instrument to help the province, and I will ensure that our hospitals receive proper allocations.)
She also planned on transforming the old Kolambugan Provincial Hospital into a centralized cancer and dialysis center.
Moreover, Dr. Raymond Dela Cruz, chief of the Regulations, Licensing, and Enforcement Division from the Department of Health-10, assured continued support for the province’s healthcare projects. He also commended the efforts to enhance both the health and economic well-being of the people of the province.
Residents also expressed their gratitude for the construction of the new hospital in their town. One of them was Evangelyn Beraño of Barangay San Roque, who emphasized that the project is a significant help to poor residents, particularly in addressing the limitations of the old hospital, which lacked facilities like X-ray services and was too small to accommodate patients adequately.
She shared that emergencies often required long, costly trips to larger hospitals in nearby municipalities that made healthcare access difficult for residents.
“Dako kaayo ning tabang sa amoa. Dako among pasalamat ni Gov. Angging, mas maayo nga duol ang dako nga ospital, labi na kay lisod kaayo ang pag-process sa mga papel,” she said.
(This is a big help for us. We are very thankful to the Gov. Angging. It is much better to have a large hospital nearby, especially since processing documents is very difficult.)
Meanwhile, Jean Masana, a resident of Barangay Rebucon, is happy that there will be a hospital closer to them, which will save them time and effort, especially during emergencies. As a grocery worker with a laborer husband and children, she is relieved that healthcare will be more accessible in their barangay. (LELA/PIA-10/Lanao del Norte)
