The bed capacity of Eversley Childs Sanitarium Hospital in Mandaue City will be increased from 50 to 100 once a bill for this is passed into law.
The House committe on health approved House Bill 1545 which upgrades the hospital’s services and bed capacity, and appropriates funds for it.
Plans call for the rise of three 3-story buildings for more wards, private rooms, operating rooms, a dialysis center, and women and children protection center.
The bill sponsored by Cebu’s 6th District Rep. Gabriel Luis R. Quisumbing was approved by the committee on Tuesday.
Health Secretary Janette Garin submitted a position paper supporting the upgrade.
The hospital was originally established in 1930 as a center for the treatment of persons with leprosy and the lead agency in the national leprosy control program.
Eversley Childs was an American philanthropist who held Governor Leonard Woods isolate and put into a care center people infected with leprosy. The compound became a small town with its own mayor and councilors, including a school.
In 1994, the DOH redirected its role to provide emergency, out-patient and in-patient services. It later became a general hospital in 2002.