The Cebu provincial government has allocated a large chunk of the P302.5 million unused development fund from last year for the improvement of health services in 16 district and provincial hospitals.
The construction and rehabilitation of hospitals and birthing centers was allocated P60.5 million, the biggest among the eight priority areas chosen by Gov. Hilario Davide III.
At Monday’s regular session, the Cebu Provincial Board (PB) unanimously approved the proposed budget realignment and gave the go signal for the implementation of several projects.
Davide said the 2013 development fund, which was supposed to be used for projects of then governor Gwendolyn Garcia, was largely left unused since it “took some time to review the projects.”
“We were still in transition last year. I assumed office in July, at the middle of the year. So I had to check and review all the projects,” he told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview.
Only around P60 million was used from the development fund for 2013.
For this year, the Capitol has set aside P407 million for its projects.
The fund, also known as the Annual Investment Plan (AIP) is 25 percent of the Capitol’s Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) for the year.
For its 2014 development fund, the Capitol has allocated another P73 million for health projects.
Bulk of the allocation will be used for the purchase of new hospital equipment in line with Davide’s thrust to upgrade all the provincial and district hospitals and get a level 1 accreditation from the Department of Health (DOH).
Recently, eight Capitol-run hospitals in the cities of Bogo, Danao and Carcar and the district hospitals in Tuburan, Argao, Barili, Badian and San Francisco in Camotes Island were granted Level 1 accreditation by DOH 7 .
With the accreditation, the hospitals may now perform surgery, Caesarian operations and appendectomy, among others, as well as laboratory examinations like ultrasound and ECG.
Davide said he also signed 20 consultancy contracts of medical specialists, including medical technicians and nurses.
Earlier, the PB approved a resolution allowing Davide to sign consultancy contracts of specialists in obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, internal medicine and general surgeons.
The upgraded district hospitals have X-ray machines and other equipment, while all eight hospitals already have operating rooms.
Meanwhile, P50 million of the unused development fund was earmarked for financial assistance to local government units (LGU), civil society organizations (CSO) and other institutions.
Davide said the fund will be made available to LGUs after a thorough review and evaluation of their request.