After it was damaged by 7.2 earthquake last October, a new Cebu City hospital may rise from the old site at N. Bacalso Avenue, Cebu City through the partnership of private and public sector, a committee tasked to spearhead its construction said today.
The plan to relocate the city hospital to the South Road Properties (SRP) will be shelved, Councilor Mary Ann delos Santos said.
“One of the guidelines in constructing the new hospital is that it should not be fronting any bodies of water,” she said in a radio interview.
The new hospital will have under its wing several offices like the Bureau of Fire Protection, Cebu City Traffic Operations Management, Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management (CCDRRMC) and a police precinct.
The land area will be twice as big as the area occupied by the old Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) at around 8,000 square meters since it will include the contested BFP lot.
Dr. Shawn Espina, lead convenor of CCMC Care (Championing the Advancement, Restoration and Establishment of the CCMC) said the hospital may eventually be run as a semi-private hospital.
He said the site along N. Bacalso Avenue is very familiar to the citizens and has good commercial traffic. The civic group helped the city government raise funds to build the new hospital.