Chan parades strong healthcare services, solid COVID-19 response in SOCA

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan delivers his State of the City Address at Gaisano Island Mall-Mactan on Thursday, July 8, 2021.    | Contributed photo

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan highlighted the accomplishments of his administration in the last two years during his State of the City Address (SOCA) on Thursday afternoon, July 8, 2021, at Gaisano Island Mall-Mactan, Barangay Pajo, here.

The mayor’s SOCA focused on health services, frontline services, tourism, infrastructure, organization and network building, peace and order, environment, social services, disaster and emergency response, Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) response and vaccination, among others.

On health services, Chan highlighted the completion of phases 1 and 2 of the new Lapu-Lapu City Hospital building.

He said that currently, the 3rd phase is ongoing.

Chan, however, asks the city council to allocate funds for the completion of the 3rd phase of the project, since the budget from the Department of Health (DOH) would no longer suffice.

He added that he also asked Senator Bong Go and Senator Sonny Angara to fund the 4th and 5th phases of the project.

“Gawas sa pagsiguro nga mahuman ang bag-ong hospital building, naghire usab kita ug mga consultants sama sa cardiologist, pulmologist, infectious disease specialist, ug emergency medicine specialist to meet the medical needs of our patients,” Chan said.

Chan also revealed that the hospital is now capable of laboratory services such as ECG, 2d-ECHO, ultrasound, and X-rays.

He added that the city is also implementing improvements in the Sta. Rosa Community Hospital in Olango Island to serve better constituents from the island.

“Hapit na usab matapos ang bag-ong Out-patient department niini nga mao unyay pagabutangan sa wellness center alang sa mga senior citizens ug sa mga pasyente nga hypertensive ug diabetic. Pagabuksan pud unya sa maong OPD ang breastfeeding and pink room, ingon man ang medical clinic, pediatric clinic ug prenatal clinic. Daghang salamat Doc Joel Semblante sa imong maayong pagdumala sa Sta. Rosa Community Hospital,” he added.

For frontline service, Chan said that under his administration, he was able to improve the power supply of Olango Island, which has now prevented rotational brownouts, after they have switched on the Olango Power Plant.

Aside from this, 3,731 residents in Olango Island, along with its islet barangays, have received solar-power sets, which consist of solar panels, four LED lights, and a cellular phone wire charger.

The city was also able to activate this year the free wifi connectivity to 11 island barangays, by distributing Smart wifi modems. Chan said that this is to ensure that students can still continue attending their modular classes in this time of the pandemic.

In terms of tourism, Chan said that in order to bring back the vibrance of the industry, the city has launched the Balik Turismo Program in October 2020, after the city’s Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) status was lifted and the city was placed under the General Community Quarantine (GCQ) status.

“To ensure that we are ready to reopen our doors to visitors, we conducted free PCR test to personnel of hotels and resorts as well as to those whose livelihood is anchored on the hospitality industry such as the boatmen, tricycle drivers, tour guides, and the likes. We were also able to convince hotel and resort operators, as well as airline companies, to roll out discounted rates to make travel to Lapu-Lapu enticing to tourists,” he said.

For COVID response and vaccination, Chan took pride after they were able to manage and decrease the COVID-19 cases in the city.

Based on the case bulletin from DOH-7, as of July 7, 2021, Lapu-Lapu City has 299 total active cases.

Chan also revealed that as of this moment, a total of 243,055 Oponganons have already registered for the vaccination rollout, which represents 76% of the target population of 318,480.

He added that the city has already vaccinated 34,285 individuals, wherein 6,301 are already fully vaccinated.

“Gawas niana, 45,031 ka employees sa dakbayan sa Lapu-Lapu ang nabakunahan ubos sa Project Balik Buhay,” he added.

Chan also formally announced that in order to fast track their vaccination rollout, the city will open its vaccination sites during weekends, which will start this coming Saturday, July 10, 2021.    /rcg

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