Starting next month, residents of Valenzuela City who seek medical attention need not worry about insufficient beds or flash floods entering the city hospital.
The city government on Friday unveiled the new, state-of-the-art Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital, which will be opened to the public starting Dec. 1.
The 50-bed hospital is located beside the Valenzuela City Astrodome along G. Lazaro Street in Barangay Dalandanan. Architect Glen Encarnacion of the city engineering office said the new facility, which cost P120 million and took about 14 months to build, is more spacious than the older, 20-bed city hospital in Barangay Poblacion.
The new hospital has operating and delivery rooms, as well as ultrasound, radiology, X-ray and laboratory units, among others, Encarnacion said. It also offers eight hemodialysis machines.
“All of the equipment and furniture as well as the beds are brand new and of the latest model,” Encarnacion added.
The hospital’s capacity can also be increased to 100 beds, with the new beds to be placed on the third floor. The city government is in the initial stages of planning this expansion.
Valenzuela Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian noted that aside from the having the best equipment and services available, the hospital is also expected to be flood-proof.
“Before, in the old hospital, TV networks would usually show footage of floods entering that place,” Gatchalian said in a speech during Friday’s inauguration.
“With this new hospital, flooding will no longer be a problem, and the city residents will reap many benefits from this facility,” he added.
The city government said the old facility in Barangay Poblacion will no longer be accepting patients starting Friday and will instead facilitate the transfer of patients, staff, and equipment to the new hospital.