DOH hospital in Pampanga adds 50 rooms for COVID-19 patients

This new building of the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga is hosting additional isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients. (Photo courtesy of JBLMGH)

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO –– The Department of Health inaugurated Friday, May 28, new isolation facilities for COVID-19 patients and four other specialized units in a new building at the Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH) in this Pampanga capital.

The Bayanihan II COVID-19 wards consist of 21 isolation rooms on the first floor and 29 others on the second floor, according to a briefing by Dr. Monserrat Chichioco, medical director of the 654-bed JBLMGH, a level 3 tertiary hospital that has training and teaching programs.

Its COVID-19 critical care unit, operational since March last year, has almost 75 beds.

The Women Wellness and Cancer Care Center, located on the fifth floor, offers obstetric and gynecologic services.

Chichioco said the building hosts the Basic Comprehensive Center for Cancer Care, providing also the first palliative care and support unit in the region. It has a chemotherapy unit with 20 stations.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. is helping JBLMGH acquire a brachytherapy unit, while the Japan International Cooperation Agency would donate a 64-slice CT scan.

JBLMGH’s laboratory for COVID-19 tests was put up on a grant from the Asian Development Bank in February 2020. INQ

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