SM Group commits to help rebuild Tacloban

SM LENDS hand to Tacloban. (From left) Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez; presidential assistant for rehabilitation and recovery Panfilo Lacson; SM Investments Corp. vice chair Teresita Sy- Coson; SM Foundation Inc. executive director for health and medical programs Connie Angeles; and Department of Health Undersecretary Dr. Teodoro Herbosa ink deal to help the city damaged by Supertyphoon “Yolanda.”

The SM group has committed to help rebuild Tacloban City and turn over by August this year a 120-bed hospital that was devastated by Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November last year.

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

“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 said in a briefing after signing the MOA with OPARR Secretary Panfilo Lacson, Department of Health Undersecretary Teodoro Herbosa and Tacloban City 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 MOA for the foundation.

Prior to “Yolanda,” Angeles said the hospital had served as a key medical center serving not only residents of Tacloban but also those from other towns and nearby provinces.

Before “Yolanda,” it admitted about 100 patients a day while its outpatient department serviced another 500.

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

Even before the signing, SM Foundation started the rehabilitation project on March 21, starting with the OPD facilities.

The expansion and relocation of the hospital’s emergency room (ER) 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 help the country meet its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as outlined by the United Nations.

The target date for the completion of the 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 (RHUs) in various provinces will also be rehabilitated and repaired by SM Foundation in partnership with BDO Foundation.

These RHUs 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 also be complemented by medical missions in 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 checkups and consultations, medicines, laboratory procedures like chest X-ray, ECG, urinalysis as well as dental services.