Baguio hospital expansion seen
BAGUIO General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) is eying to set up parking lots and a heart, trauma and brain center within the compound.
Doctor Ricardo Ruñez, BGHMC medical center chief revealed plans to build two lots at the area of the Administration Building and the corner of the Flavier Building to accommodate at least 150 slots for vehicles.
Ruñez said the 3-storey parking structure near the administration building can accommodate 50 parking slots the 6-storey parking building near the Flavier Building can house another 100 slots as part of short and medium term plans.
The hospital chief said the money to be used for the construction of the structures will be sourced from a loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines, which is being facilitated now to be paid by the income generated by the parking slots as well as revenue from the hospital in itself.
If approved, the loan is aimed to be paid at the end of fifteen years.
Ruñez dispelled speculation the parking lots will be set up at the front garden of the facility which he said is a heritage area which is respected and maintained by the hospital admiration and management.
Ruñez added plans for the state run facility include the setup of a 6-storey trauma center, an 8-storey heart center and another 6-storey brain center in the coming years as part of the master development plan of the hospital.
The BGHMC acknowledged the lack of parking spaces in the compound and cited the issue as one of the concerns the patients, visitors and doctors have aired over the years.
Ruñez appeared before the City Council last week to discuss plans of expansion with the local legislative body, to which the council backed plans of the hospital through a resolution.
In April, BGHMC opened a new Cancer Institute as part of the hospital’s Cancer Detection and Treatment Department.
BGHMC not only caters to patients from Baguio City and Cordillera but also to nearby provinces of Ilocos Region and Cagayan Valley.
The hospital started as Baguio Sanatorium in February 3, 1902 pioneered by Dr. Eugene Stafford, captain of the staff of General Arthur MacArthur in the 1900’s, today it is a tertiary hospital under the National Government. (SunStar Philippines)