BY GEROME DALIPE IV
ILOILO City – Another game-changing initiative of Iloilo City Lone District Rep. Julienne “Jam-jam” Baronda for the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) will greatly help the Ilonggos as they no longer need to travel to Manila to avail themselves of diagnosis and treatment of heart and lung diseases.
The Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) yesterday inaugurated its Heart and Lung Care Center, which will serve as specialty centers for cardiovascular and lung care for the Ilonggos.
Senator JV Ejercito and Rep. Baronda, whose first major legislative accomplishment was the passage of Republic Act 11496 that increased WVMC’s bed capacity from 425 to 700 as well as added around 2,000 hospital staff and equipment, led the blessing and inauguration of the P449-million Heart and Lung Care Center. It is expected to be fully operational next month.
Baronda described the center as a milestone for the Ilonggo community, adding that health is among her priority projects under her governance of “Gugma Ko, H.O.P.E. Mo” where H means Health, O is Obra, P is Peace and Order, and E is Education. “Gugma” is Hiligaynon for “love” or “charity”.
“Indi na sila kinahanglan magpa-Manila pa para sa life-saving treatments kag procedures kon lubos na gid ini mag-function,” said Baronda.
Baronda voiced her gratitude to her former boss, Senator Ejercito, for heeding her request to provide funds for the WVMC’s Heart and Lung Care Center. She was his Chief Political Officer when he sought his help as Senate Health Committee Chair at that time in 2018 to provide funding for the building.
“Madamo pa kita sang plano para sa aton mga pumuluyo gani padayunon ta ang pagbuligay kag pag-unungay para matuman ang aton tanan nga damgo para sa mga Ilonggo,” said Baronda, who advocated for the allocation of funds during the House budget deliberations for the equipping of the Heart and Lung Center. She said she was assured by the leadership that P200 million would be made available next year.
Sen. JV Ejercito, meanwhile, underscored that “the inauguration of the Heart and Lung Building and the groundbreaking of the Cancer Care Center at the Western Visayas Medical Center will be a major step forward as it will provide much-needed healthcare services to the people in the region,” which is in pursuit of the Universal Healthcare Law that he authored.
Dr. Mae Dagooc, WVMC Heart Care Center chief, said they catered to about 3,878 in-patients, performed 310 cardiovascular surgeries, and initiated 1, 462 cardiac catheterization procedures, with a recorded mortality rate of 1.67 percent only.
“With the groundbreaking ceremony of our future cancer center, we affirm our dedication to providing comprehensive, cutting-edge care to individuals facing one of the most formidable health challenges of our time. The center, along with other subspecialty centers envisioned, will serve as pillars of hope, healing, and resilience for our community, said Dagooc.
She added that they exert all efforts to ensure they will deliver the responsibility entrusted to them to become the advocate for health and well-being in the community.
“Our journey towards becoming a premier multi-specialty center in Region 6 is not just about buildings and facilities, but transforming the lives and empowering communities and shaping the future of healthcare for generations to come,” said Dagooc.
For his part, Dr. Joseph Dean Nicolo, WVMC director, appealed to the public to be patient while they are exerting all efforts to improve their health services, especially to the indigent people.
“Just give us time. With the help of our legislators, we will expand our hospital beds to accommodate more patients,” said Nicolo.
In a press briefer, the WVMC envisions ensuring that there is enough physical structure to accommodate the needed services of the various specialty centers that it needs to establish.
Pursuant to Republic Act No. 11959 on the establishment of the Regional Specialty Centers, WVMC said it is committed to establish thirteen specialty centers including the cardiovascular, lung, and cancer care centers.
It said that the completion of the first phase of the Heart and Lung Center will enable the full functioning of the specialty centers for cardiovascular and lung care.
Patients shall be treated in the facility without the need for referral to higher level facilities as National Specialty Centers.
The facility also houses operating theaters to facilitate better turnaround times of surgical procedures and decrease backlogs. It will provide better service delivery with improved infrastructure provided to patients and clients.
“The hospital is in its continued pursuit to rebrand the government facilities and promote an image of a state-of-the-art health care setting for the poorest of the poor valuing equity,” the statement read.
Likewise, the new facility aims to provide a better working environment for the Nutrition and Dietetics Service as it caters to the increasing number of patients and the consistently high occupancy rate of the hospital. Apart from inauguration of the heart and lung center, a groundbreaking ceremony was also held for the six-storey Cancer Care Center of Western Visayas Medical Center worth P300-million for its first phase.
The six-storey Building B or the Cancer Care Center was funded through the Health Facility Enhancement Program.
Half-way rooms will also be available to aid clients living outside the city of Iloilo. More patients can be accommodated for admission, out-patient consults, hospice and pain management, and chemotherapy sessions.
“With these breakthroughs, the hospital management would like to celebrate small wins with the very supportive leaders at the Department of Health and the national and local officials behind these plans and initiatives; hence, the conduct of the activity,” the statement added.
Rep. Baronda, on the other hand, thanked the Department of Health, the Duterte administration, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Cong. Michael Gorriceta, Cong. Raul “Boboy” Tupas, and the WVMC community led by Dr. Nicolo for investing on another legacy project that would make the Ilonggo people feel and experience the GUGMA of their government./PN