VSMMC OPENS P150M EMERGENCY ROOM
Expansion will make it a 120-bed capacity, firstclass emergency complex
A P150-million Emergency Department Complex of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) was inaugurated Wednesday, Nov. 14, to serve the poor patients not only from Cebu but Visayas and Mindanao.
Dr. Gerardo Aquino, VSMMC chief of hospital, said the old emergency room was very congested and needed expansion. Because patients are increasing in number, several of them have no beds.
“With this new emergency complex, we can serve more patients not only from Cebu, but Visayas and Mindanao. Being a government hospital, we have to accept every patient. It is not like a hotel where we can say fully booked if there is no more bed,” Aquino said.
Eleodoro Mongaya Jr., VSMMC public information officer, said that the old emergency area had 50 beds for non-trauma and 30 beds for trauma (or accident-related cases) or a total of 80. This time, it has a 120bed capacity.
Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said the facility is under the umbrella of the DOH, something beautiful that they could offer to the people of Cebu. This is a firstclass emergency complex which is also spacious, air-conditioned and very clean.
“A lot of our hospital facilities all over the country including VSMMC are funded by the sin tax (of sales of cigarettes and liquor), a law passed by Congress so that a better service can be done when people get sick,” Bayugo said.
Dr. Leo Pataray, chairman of the VSMMC Department of Emergency Medicine, said that with the new emergency facility, they can attend to the underserved patients who cannot afford to go to a private hospital.
“It will be just like admitting in a private hospital because the complex is newly renovated, with new beds, new equipment and very neat,” Pataray said.
Pataray said there will be only one entrance to the emergency complex for children who are sick, victims of accidents, and adults with various illnesses. They will be diagnosed and taken care of there before admission.
The old emergency room will now be an extension of the radiology department, MRI, another provision for a CT Scan aside from the existing two to make it three CT Scans, ultrasound and offices.
“With this new emergency complex, we can now cater to the usual 180 to 200 patients a day. There is no first-come-first-served patient here. If a patient needs immediate attention to save life, we will do it,” Pataray said.