Sec. Duque inspects soon-to-be completed Legazpi city hospital

By Celso Amo LEGAZPI CITY --- Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III inspected the newly constructed 80-bed Legazpi City Hospital (LCH) and urged Mayor Noel Rosal to raise the two-story structure to three to accommodate more patients and help decongest the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital. The DOH Secretary said he supports the early opening of the hospital as well as additional beds so it can immediately start addressing the hospitalization needs of the city’s 202,902 residents in 70 barangays. The health needs of city residents have been addressed by the City Health Office but hospitalization of its growing population are being taken care of by the BRTTH and private hospitals in the city, such as Albay Doctor’s Hospital, Tanchuling Hospital, Aquinas General Hospital, Estevez Hospital, Ago Medical Hospital and private clinics. Rosal said the city hospital’s equipment and fixtures had been donated by Legazpiños living in the United States. He said the two-story hospital inauguration is slated this coming April or May this year. “We are just pursuing the finishing touches of the building,” said Rosal who invited DOH Secretary Duque to grace its opening. Rosal said the city hospital which is about four kilometers away from BRTTH can help alleviate the overcrowding of the tertiary hospital which admits patients as far as Masbate, Sorsogon and Catanduanes. The P90M city hospital which started construction on November 25, 2014 was completed last year and is located at a 3,000 square meter lot owned by the city government in the city’s commercial district at Barangay Bitano.