Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, DOH-7 representative Dr. Sophia Mancao, Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia, and Acting Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros pose for a photo for ribbon cutting ceremony in Guba Community Hospital. | CDN Digital photo / Niña Oliverio
CEBU CITY, Philippines — After nearly six years since its construction started, the community hospital in Barangay Guba in Cebu City finally opened to cater to patients and residents in the city’s mountain barangay.
Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said that he was hopeful that this hospital would become a fully operational facility and would effectively cater to the medical needs of the residents.
“I’m hoping na mao na ni ang sinugdanan nga kaning (I’m hoping that this will be the start of the) Guba Community Hospital … kay (because it) will no longer be a transfer station but will actually be a full blown hospital that caters to the medical needs of our constituents here in the mountain barangay,” said Garcia, who attended the blessing ribbon cutting ceremony of the hospital on July 30.
The GCH is an extension of Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) and was funded by the Department of Health (DOH) which allocated P15.79 million for its completion, upgrading, and repair.
Garcia also said that no city funds were used for the hospital.
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Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, City Council’s chairperson of the Committee on Health, for her part, said that the Guba Community Hospital would soon be called North District Community Hospital through a city ordinance.
Meanwhile, Garcia also mentioned that it would take time, possibly at the end of the year to have the additional equipment like X-ray, ultrasound and other necessary medical equipment for the operating room.
Garcia also said that the goal would be to make Guba Community Hospital into a level one hospital that would be fully operational.
Personnel and Services
Dr. Grace Valdez, medical director of GCH, said, during a press briefing on July 29, that the hospital had 50 personnel, and six of whom were doctors.
Valdez said that this year, they would be opening new positions for doctors and nurses as the community hospital would continue to expand.
She also aid that the hospital could accommodate 10 patients that could be admitted in a day, but they could also cater to more patients in the hospital’s Out Patient Department (OPD).
Additionally, Valdez said that they would be looking forward to the approval of city councilors for their request of a digital X-ray, which was still being processed.
“[We are] looking forward for your approval on our request with our own budget, for our upcoming X-ray. Hopefully, [that] will be approved by the city councilors. The new technology of ultrasound that be instituted…By the way, our X-ray is a new technology with an AI,” Valdez said.
Guba Community Hospital 2nd floor
Valdez also announced that the 2nd floor of Guba Community Hospital would be open at around November to December this year for more ward capacity and offices.
Valdez also assured the residents of Guba and neighboring areas that the community hospital “adopts the concept of where service is sacred.”
“So ang atong serbisyo sagrado kaayo (So our service is very sacred), we honor our patients, we have our focus on customer care, we have our focus on advancing medical technology incorporating it to the holistic approach of the patients and better services for the entire health area,” she said.
The completion of the GCH was stalled since its construction started in 2019, and this was later found out that “the contractor failed to process the necessary building requirements, leading to this close-to-five-year delay.”
This was also because there was a problem about the land title where the community hospital was constructed.
Also present during the blessing and ribbon cutting ceremony were Acting Vice Mayor Dondon Hontiveros; Dr. Mancao, Department of Health in Central Visayas representative and GCH director; Dr. Peter Mancao, acting CCMC chief and Cebu City Councilors and officials. | With a report from Niña Oliverio