Vice President Jejomar Binay leads the inauguration of a new government-owned hospital in Infanta, Quezon, on Friday. INQUIRER PHOTO
LUCENA CITY—Vice President Jejomar Binay chose to spend Independence Day in Quezon province by leading the inauguration of the new government-owned Claro M. Recto Memorial District Hospital (CMRMDH) in Infanta town.
Janet Geneblazo, Quezon provincial government public information officer, said Binay, together with Sen. Ralph Recto, Quezon Gov. David Suarez and provincial and local officials, formally opened the 25-bed capacity hospital.
Binay arrived in Infanta past 9 a.m. on Friday, over an hour after he led the Independence Day flag raising ceremony in Luneta Park together with Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.
Binay came aboard a helicopter in the company of former Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, a close ally of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and now a staunch Binay supporter.
The Suarez political clan in Quezon would campaign for Binay in 2016. The clan matriarch, Aleta, is a member of the House of Representatives for the province’s third district.
The Vice President donated medicines and distributed wheelchairs to sick senior citizens, Geneblazo said over the phone.
The two-story hospital located in a one-hectare compound in Barangay Gumian aims to serve the medical needs of residents of Infanta, Real, General Nakar and the island-towns of Polilio, Panukulan, Patnanungan, Jomalig and Burdeos.
The CMRMDH was formerly named Infanta Emergency Hospital. In June 1965, the name was changed into Claro M. Recto Memorial Hospital by virtue of Republic Act No. 4292.
The hospital has long been attending to the medical needs of northern Quezon residents. But due to its limited medical equipment and facilities, most sick residents from northern Quezon had to travel to Lucena City where the Quezon Medical Center, the biggest government hospital in the province, is located. The travel time from Infanta to Lucena is three hours.
Another building inside the CMRMDH compound is being built to house the dialysis and alternative medicine centers and other hospital facilities, said Geneblazo.
After the hospital inauguration, Binay and former Congressman Suarez flew to the island towns of Polilio, Burdeos and Panukulan, where he was to meet with local officials and also to distribute wheelchairs and medicines to senior citizens, his office said in a statement.