New hospital to rise in Valenzuela

Valenzuela City Mayor Sherwin Gatchalian bared plans to build  a government hospital on higher ground to replace the facility it now uses which is  often flooded during the rainy season.

He said the Valenzuela City West Emergency Hospital and Dialysis Center will stand on a 4,000 sq m lot in Barangay Dalandanan.

The hospital, which will be adjacent to the Valenzuela City Astrodome, will take the place of the Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital (VCEH) in Barangay Poblacion.

The VCEH was by  built more than 50 years ago and used to house the municipal hall.

In June, several patients on the first floor of the hospital had to be moved to the second floor after floodwaters brought about by heavy rains from Tropical Depression “Egay” and the high tide seeped inside the building.

Doctors, nurses and patients were forced to use wheelchairs to avoid getting wet and to get to the upper floor.

Some documents and papers in the records section of the hospital were also lost to leg-deep floodwaters.

Gatchalian said work on  the P82-million project will  begin in October.

The hospital will be operational after eight months.

Dr. Jaime Exconde Jr., city health officer,  called the construction of the new hospital a landmark project.