TACLOBAN CITY- The SM Foundation is to rehabilitate the Tacloban City Hospital of this city as it recently signed a memorandum of agreement for this effect.
The Tacloban City Hospital is a 25-bed public hospital managed by the city government that sustained major damages during the supertyphoon Yolanda.
The hospital’s main building and its out-patient department building, which sustained major damages, are to be repair by the SM Foundation.
Signing the agreement were Rehabilitation Secretary Panfilo Lacson and his Undersecretary Danilo Antonio; Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez; Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa and health regional director Jose Llacuna Jr., Teresita Sy-Coson and Connie Angeles, trustee and executive director foe health and programs of the SM Foundation, respectively.
In an interview with Leyte Samar Daily Express, Angeles said that the repair will likewise involve the expansion and relocation of the hospital’s emergency room to accommodate more patients who needs emergency assistance.
A malnutrition ward will also be established to address the targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and an additional wellness center, to be named as Felicidad Sy Wellness Center for Children and the Elderly.
The actual construction started last March 21 with July of this year as the target date of completion.
According to Angeles, 80% of the labor forces in the renovation were from the local community and in the process, has provided means of livelihood to the disaster-stricken residents.
She added that the foundation will also provide basic hospital equipment to service the medical needs of the 138 barangays of the city.
Meanwhile, rural health units (RHUs) of Tolosa, Leyte and Basey, Samar will also undergo repair and rehabilitation to be funded by the foundation in partnership with the BDO Foundation in the Visayas, Angeles said. (RYAN GABRIEL L.ARCENAS)