Cebu City residents especially from the north district are given priority to be accommodated in the new Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) which is scheduled to open next month. (CDN PHOTO/MICHELLE PADAYHAG).
Cebu City residents, especially those coming from the city’s north district, will now have a place to stay at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
Hospital officials and Rep. Raul del Mar of Cebu City’s north district led on Friday morning the inauguration of a newly built four-story building that has 130-bed capacity, which is called VSMMC Cebu City North District building.
The light blue–painted building worth P79.1 million funded by the Department of Health will be fully operational starting January 2017.
But Del Mar clarified that while it was his daughter, then north district Rep. Rachel Marguerite “Cutie” del Mar, who lobbied for its construction, the structure will also be shared with the city’s north district and Cebu province residents.
“It’s not exclusive for them (north district residents), but they are primarily a priority. Second are those coming from the (city’s) south district and if necessary, patients from Cebu and nearby provinces,” Del Mar said in an interview after the inauguration.
Others who joined Friday’s inauguration were Mayor Tomas Osmeña, former congresswoman Cutie Del Mar and DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas.
Building construction is in compliance with Republic Act No. 10770 or an “Act increasing the bed capacity of VSMMC from 800 to 1,200” signed by former President Benigno Aquino III on April 26, 2016.
Eledoro “Nonoy” Mongaya, VSMMC information officer, said VSMMC is now overcrowded. As of 6 p.m. on Friday, the hospital had 1,245 admitted patients.
The government-run hospital, which opened in 1911, was built as an 800-bed capacity hospital.
In his message, Dr. Gerardo Aquino, VSMMC medical director, thanked Rep. Del Mar for his efforts in pushing for VSMMC’s upgrade.
“This is making the VSMMC the biggest-run tertiary, teaching and training facility in Central Visayas,” Aquino said.