Heart, kidney specialty center proposed in Bacolod

A bill for the establishment of the Bacolod-Negros Heart and Kidney Center proposed by Lone District Rep. Greg Gasataya is up for second reading in the House of Representatives.

In an interview, Gasataya said that during a consultation meeting held yesterday Oct. 13, 2021, the committee on health informed him that House Bill (HB) 2686 will be scheduled for the second reading when the session resumes.

The lawmaker, who first filed the bill in 2018 and then refiled it in 2019, said he is now drafting a substitute bill to be submitted for the next reading.

“We thank the House committee on health and the Department of Health (DOH) for their continuing support to our proposed legislations for the welfare of Bacolodnons,” he added.

Gasataya said the proposal for the specialty center will become part of the DOH’s health development plan.

“It’s about time that we have a treatment center like this in Bacolod City and in Negros,” he said.

In HB 2686, Gasataya noted that in Negros Occidental, only two government-owned dialysis centers and one tertiary government hospital cater to thousands of patients with cardiovascular and kidney diseases in the province.

As “patients in need of delicate procedures are left obligated to travel to Metro Manila, this bill therefore, seeks to address the aforementioned issues and make quality medical care and services more accessible by establishing a center for heart and kidney diseases in the City of Bacolod, Province of Negros Occidental”, he added.

General Hospital

Meanwhile, this city will soon establish the Bacolod City General Hospital under Republic Act (RA) 11564 signed by President Rodrigo Duterte last June 24.

Gasataya said a fund of P250 million has been allocated for the construction of the city hospital under the proposal for next year’s national budget.

Also underway is the expansion of the Bacolod-based Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, the only DOH-retained hospital in Negros Island, from 400 to 1,000 beds, and the hiring of an additional 547 personnel under RA 11441 signed by Duterte on Aug. 28, 2019.* (Nanette Guadalquiver)