Children can now avail of better medical treatment in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) with the inauguration of its new pediatric pavilion.
The P30 million structure built from the 2011 PDAF of resigned senator Juan Miguel Zubiri will include an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) complex on its second floor, said Dr. Ramon Najarro, head of the VSMMC’s pediatric division.
Najarro said the new structure located at the back of the main hospital building will already be operational as soon as they complete the transfer of the facility from the hospital’s existing pediatrics ward.
“We will already be able to decongest the pediatrics section with the operation of the new pediatric pavilion,” he said.
Najarro said the VSMMC’s pediatrics ward only has a bed capacity of 75 patients but they normally accommodate an average of 100 patients who share bed spaces.
“The new building also has better ventilation and is part of our hospital’s development plan,” he said.
Ricky Poca of the Rotary Port Center said that they are expecting donations from the Evslin Foundation based in the United States of America to equip the pediatrics pavilion within the year.
The rotary club is in partnership with the foundation which also solicits medical equipment from their US based donors, said Poca.
Zubiri, who attended the hospital inauguration yesterday afternoon, told VSMMC hospital Gerardo Aquino that he will help in upgrading the equipment for the new pediatrics pavilion and increase to P3 million the P1 million allocation which he set side for indigent patients in 2011 if he wins in the May 13 election. He wanted part of the P3 million allocation spent on pediatrics./Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac