SM to rebuild Tacloban hospital

FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The SM group has committed to rebuild for Tacloban City and turn over by August this year a 120-bed hospital  destroyed by Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in support of public-private efforts to rehabilitate Tacloban.

A memorandum of agreement was signed late Tuesday between SM Foundation and the Office of the Presidential Assistant for Rehabilitation and Recovery (OPARR) for the rehabilitation of Tacloban City Hospital.

“We will try to put in the basics and then we’ll have some people donate also the medicine. This is part of the medical missions that we’re doing… It’s really to help people who are sick,” SM Investments vice chair and Banco de Oro Unibank chair Teresita Sy-Coson told reporters Tuesday night after signing the memorandum with OPARR chief Panfilo Lacson,  Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa and Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez.

The rehabilitation of the hospital is estimated to cost P20 million and will be on top of the P100 million calamity fund earlier committed by the SM group, Sy-Coson said.

Connie Angeles, executive director for health and medical programs of SM Foundation, signed the memorandum for the foundation.

Prior to Yolanda, Angeles said, the hospital  served as a key medical center serving not only residents of Tacloban but also those in other areas. Prior to its destruction, she added, about 100 patients were admitted to this hospital daily while more than 500 others were served by the out-patient department.

The renovation will increase the number of beds from 100 to 120.

SM Foundation started the rehabilitation project on March 21, beginning with the strategically needed out-patient department. The expansion and relocation of the hospital’s emergency room will immediately follow, to accommodate more patients needing emergency assistance.

A wellness center in the out-patient department, that will be called Felicidad Sy Wellness Center for Children and Elderly, will also be constructed at the OPD.

A Malnutrition Ward will also be constructed apart from the provision of basic hospital equipment. The SM group said this was in support of the Department of Health’s call to address the targets of the government’s Millenium Development Goals.

Target date for the completion of the entire Tacloban City Hospital is this June but turnover to the local government will be in August, Angeles said.

The SM Foundation said it selected the hospital for immediate reconstruction because it was extensively damaged by “Yolanda”, depriving the people of their necessary healthcare needs. Angeles added that the hospital was not included in the “no-build zone” area in Tacloban, thereby allowing quick rehabilitation.

At the same time, 10 rural health units in various provinces will also be rehabilitated and repaired by SM Foundation in partnership with BDO Foundation.

These rural health units are the Tolosa Rural Health Unit, Leyte; Western Samar Rural Health Unit, Basey; Ajuy Rural Health Unit, Iloilo; Northern Cebu Rural Health Unit, Bogo City, Cebu; Capiz Rural Health Unit; Aklan Rural Health Unit; Antique Rural Health Unit; Zamboanga Rural Health Unit; Butuan Rural Health Unit, Agusan del Norte; and La Trinidad Health Unit, Benguet.

The project will be complemented by medical missions to the Yolanda-stricken areas in Leyte, Iloilo, and Cebu. The group is also sending SM Foundation’s mobile clinic to these areas to provide free medical check-ups and consultations, medicines, laboratory procedures like chest X-ray, ECG, urinalysis as well as dental services.