Regional medical center rises in Leyte

VILLABA, Leyte – A 100-bed extension hospital of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) will rise in Barangay Cabunga-an here.

Leyte 3rd District Rep. Vicente Veloso said he has donated to the national government 1.5 hectare of his own property as the site of the proposed hospital.

During the recent budget hearing on the Department of Health in the House of Representatives last month, Veloso said he was able to convince the DOH to build the extension hospital which will serve the third, second, fourth, fifth districts of Leyte and nearby Biliran island.

Veloso said P200 million has been set aside by the national government as initial funding for the project.

"This would be a hospital with facilities like the St. Luke's Hospital in Manila because this is owned by the government. Government facilities should be better compared to the private ones because this is owned by the republic, " Veloso told Manila Bulletin.

He said with the extension hospital in his district, the main Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) that has been transferred to Tacloban City can serve better the people of Samar and the eastern parts of Leyte because it will have fewer patients.

Veloso said patients from far-flung areas on the western side of Leyte would benefit from the new hospital since it is near the boundary of Leyte town and Villaba.

He is proposing the construction of a 10-kilometer road to make new hospital more accessible to patients from the fourth and fifth district and Biliran.

Veloso has asked DOH officials in Eastern Visayas as well as the chief of hospital of EVRMC to submit their fiveyear development plan since congressional leaders from Eastern Visayas are willing to support any project that provide better and quality health services to their constituents.

The EVRMC has been allocated only of P67 million for next year's budget which Veloso said is smaller than that of other regional hospitals in the country.