THE Cebu Provincial government has now assigned an in-house doctor for the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC).
Acting Provincial Health Officer Dr. Rene Catan also said that there will be additional health and medical improvements inside the facility after getting a P6 million budget which is part of the P51 million Supplemental Budget (SB) 5 which was approved by the Provincial Board (PB) last Monday.
The doctor assigned in CPDRC is Dr. Henry Calledo.
Catan said Calledo used to be one of the province’s chief of hospitals.
“We gave him a specific role on what should be done. He already surveyed the area. Aside from that, we will also look for more people like additional nurses,” Catan told reporters yesterday.
Catan, who is the new head of the Provincial Health Office (PHO), said that unlike previous years, the province will really be focusing on the health concerns inside the jail.
“I have talked with the provincial administrator and he wants the CPDRC to be the 17th hospital of the province. We’ll treat it as a separate unit because it hasn’t been given attention before,” he said.
He pointed out that there are inmates suffering from various diseases inside the facility and also cited the recent reports of several deaths inside the CPDRC, where 8 eight inmates died in July alone.
Catan admitted that the overcrowding inside the facility was one factor in the deteriorating health of the inmates.
The CPDRC has an ideal capacity of 1,600 inmates, but as of now, it already houses 2,992 people.