City Council : CCMC and fire department to co-exist

The Cebu City Council passed a resolution yesterday recognizing the Cebu City Medical Center’s (CCMC) operation at the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) building along Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City.

But while the council approved the resolution of Councilor Lea Japson, Councilor Sisnio Andales said both the CCMC and the BFP should co-exist in the same compound.

“The BFP and CCMC should coexist. However, the temporary occupancy should be with a definite period because the BFP is also the command center of any disaster in Region 7,” Andales said in his committee report.

Japson, who heads the committee on health, said the resolution is needed for the CCMC to renew its permit with the Department of Health (DOH) which expires in January.

The CCMC board, through hospital board resolution no. 001-2013 dated last Nov. 6 requested the City Council to pass a resolution to temporarily operate a health facility in a new location.

Cebu City Hall’s Office of the Building Official and private structural engineers earlier declared the CCMC unfit for occupancy after it sustained heavy damage due to the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit Cebu and Bohol last Oct. 15.

The CCMC is servicing its patients at a BFP lot and has set up a makeshift nursery for newborn infants.

The Cebu City government wanted to claim the lot and building occupied by the BFP.

Last Nov. 7, a confrontation ensued between a Cebu City Hall team and BFP Regional Director Ma. Luisa Hadjula after the team tried to remove the agency’s equipment from the building.

Dr. Gloria Duterte, CCMC chief said, the firefighters will only be allowed to use the temporary hospital’s billing section as their sleeping quarters.

They transferred all their beds to the bigger office space at the second floor that was already occupied by CCMC personnel. Hadjula insisted that the rooms be shared with the BFP.

But Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama refused to allow the BFP personnel to share the space on the second floor.

Duterte said she transferred her billing section to the lobby to accommodate the BFP. Correspondent Jose Santino S. Bunachita