House bill seeks to expand Eastern Visayas hospital

TACLOBAN CITY –– The bed shortage in Eastern Visayas’ biggest public hospital may soon end.

Tingog Partylist Representative Yedda Marie Romualdez said her bill to increase the bed capacity of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC) was approved at the committee level of the House of Representatives.

House Bill 1154 seeks to increase the bed capacity of the EVRMC from 500 to 1,500, upgrade its services and facilities, and increase the number of medical personnel.

“We have patients from other parts of the region who come to EVRMC. The hospital is already congested and increasing its bed capacity will help address the problem,” said Romualdez in an interview.

Romualdez expressed the hope that her proposal to increase the bed capacity of EVRMC would be realized before the current Congress ends.

The lawmaker, who is a nurse by profession, also authored a bill for the establishment of a general hospital that will cater to the medical needs of the people of the three Samar provinces namely, Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar.

If the bill is approved, the hospital will be known as the Samar Island Medical Center (SIMC).

The Calbayog City government, she said, has offered a four-hectare lot, where the proposed hospital would be established.

Romualdez, however, could not say how many could be accommodated in the proposed SIMC.

She said the bill for the creation of SIMC was pending at the House of Representatives committee on health.

“(The proposed SIMC) will serve Samar Island, and help decongest EVRMC,” Romualdez said.

Edited by Lzb