Upgrading Talisay District Hospital

The Talisay District Hospital (TDH) should be upgraded into a full-grown 500-bed medical center so that it can provide a full range of highly specialized treatment services to a greater number of people in the Visayas.

We are absolutely committed to transforming our district hospital into a medical center under the supervision of the Department of Health. Besides the increase in bed capacity, we envision the hospital to be fully departmentalized and completely equipped.

I filed House Bill 5140, which seeks to elevate the district hospital into the Talisay Medical Center, with extra specialties as a hub of Trauma and Emergency Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Sports and Exercise Medicine in the Visayas.

Once the hospital achieves medical center status, it will be able to provide emergency services and care for patients suffering from traumatic injuries due to falls, car accidents and gunshot wounds.

Right now, due to limited capabilities in terms of staff, facilities and equipment, many trauma cases initially received by the hospital are simply referred to the much larger Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City.

Our target is to initially raise the hospital’s bed capacity to 150, then increase it further by 50 every year until we have 500 beds. We also intend to add certified specialists to the hospital’s existing staff of licensed physicians.

At present, the hospital is still constructing a second, four-level building to be able to put up a new Philippine Health Insurance Corp. ward, an operating room, maternity labor and delivery rooms as well as recovery rooms.

The hospital, which was established with an initial 25 beds in 1994 by Republic Act 7799, was originally meant to serve primarily the residents of Talisay, Minglanilla and the City of Naga.-- Rep. Samsam Gullas (Cebu, 1st district)