Red Cross proposes ‘tent hospital’ for city

As the Cebu City government moves to set up a temporary hospital setup in the City Fire Department’s lot, Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) chairman Richard Gordon proposed an alternative solution.

“Just provide us with enough space and we will make a temporary hospital made of tents,” Gordon said at the sidelines of the PNRC’s 18th National Youth Congress held at the Crown Regency Hotel in Lapu-Lapu City.

Gordon said the PNRC’s volunteers can coordinate with the Cebu City Medical Center’s (CCMC) staff in setting up facilities in tents at least until the city government finds a solution in the delivery of services to their patients.

Gordon said they have done this in other areas hit by natural calamities. He said it’s time for Cebu City residents to pull together in helping the city’s indigent patients get proper medical attention.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants to build another hospital in place of the CCMC while the Cebu City Council wants to retrofit and rebuild the existing CCMC building in order to immediately resume serving patients.

Engr. Ariel dela Cruz, the city’s structural consultant, said the CCMC building doesn’t conform to the requirements of the Structural Code of the Philippines.

Dela Cruz said it lacks column confinement ties and only has vertical bars to support its columns.

He recommended the demolition of the building and construction of a new one that complies with the code’s requirements.

Dela Cruz said retrofitting would cost P25 million and will take six to eight months to complete. But this won’t assure the building’s stability because it doesn’t cover reinforcement of the structure’s foundation “which also deteriorates with age,” he said.

He said a building normally has a life span of 50 to 70 years. The CCMC building is now 45 years old. Retrofitting works could extend its life span by another 15 years. Correspondents Norman V. Mendoza and Edison delos Angeles with Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac