BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The management of the Vicente Gustilo District Hospital (VGDH) and Calatrava Municipal Hospital was formally turned over yesterday by the provincial government of Negros Occidental to the local government units of Escalante City and Calatrava.
The memorandum of agreement was signed yesterday by Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson, Escalante City Mayor Melecio Yap, and Calatrava Mayor Marilyn Era, at the Negros Residences in Bacolod City, witnessed by Vice-Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer, and Sangguniang Panlalawigan Board Members Rommel Debulgado and Araceli Somosa, among others.
Lacson said he wished the mayors luck in the management of the two hospitals, and assured them of the continuing support of the province in their daily operations.
Both mayors signified their readiness to operate the two hospitals, although they admitted that it will be a “challenge” for them, he added.
“In the next couple of years, we’ll be supporting them, until such time that they can gradually be free of any subsidy from the province,” Lacson said.
VGDH is a 100-bed capacity hospital in Escalante City, while the Calatrava Municipal Hospital is a 10-bed health facility.
Provincial consultant on Hospital Operations, Mariano Cui, earlier said that the transfer of hospital management operations to the LGUs of Escalante City and Calatrava will ensure maximum health services for residents in those areas.
“Our main goal is to make CDH and VGDH 90 percent operational, like any other hospital,” Cui said.
The San Carlos City Hospital is also being managed by the city government of San Carlos.
Lacson also said that majority of the personnel of the two hospitals have opted to remain with the provincial government, and will be assigned to other district hospitals. With this development, the two LGUs can hire their own personnel for assignment in the two hospitals, he added.*
