P344M approved to upgrade devolved hospitals

By RODERICK T. DE LA CRUZ
TODAY Reporter

The government will upgrade and modernize the equipment of the devolved district and provincial hospitals in the country’s poor municipalities with a P344-million fund.

This was announced Thursday by the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee (ICC-CC), which said that the upgrading project is part of the government’s economic blueprint for the next six years.

In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), which serves as the secretariat of the ICC-CC, said the Spanish government has agreed to provide P281 million, which is 82 percent of the project’s total cost, through mixed credit, with 50 percent from soft loan and 50 percent in the form of buyer’s credit

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The Department of the Interior and Local Government and the beneficiary local government units (LGUs) will shoulder the remaining 18 percent, or P63 million

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“The project is consistent with the Arroyo administration’s policy of uplifting the lives of the Filipino poor through improved health-care services and facilities, especially those of hospitals in the periphery. This is clearly outlined in the 2004-2010 Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan,” said Jonathan Uy, head of the public investment staff of NEDA

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Uy said the Hospital Equipment Assistance Project will cover the hospitals in Bangued, Abra; Lagawe, Ifugao; Tabuk, Kalinga; Cabarroguis, Quirino; Masbate; Silay City, Negros Occidental; Siquijor; Naval, Biliran; and Catbalogan, Western Samar.

The primary health-care services in those areas will also be expanded by encouraging the LGUs to increase their budget for health in order to qualify as beneficiary of this project, Uy said.

He said the project’s three components—equipment, training of health personnel and monitoring the use of the equipment—aim to address the problem of deteriorating facilities in devolved hospitals

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“The project aims to enhance the government’s health sector reform agenda in partnership with local governments through the official development assistance being offered by the Spanish government,” he said.

The two-year project is to start next year.

Siquijor Gary