AFTER A long and thorough deliberation that ended with an exchange of words between Laoag Councilors Vicentito M. Lazo and Francis Dacuycuy, the proposal to establish a tertiary hospital in the city has been approved by the Sangguniang Panlungsod. The approved resolution gives authority to Laoag Mayor Michael V. Fariñas to solicit funding for the establishment of the said hospital. Lazo, who strongly opposed the resolution, stressed that the approved resolution is not different from an earlier resolution sponsored by Dacuycuy, which he alter withdrew, pertaining to the establishment of the Northern Luzon Medical Center. The discussion centered on the deficit the hospital would incur at the start of its operations and the policy of the Department of Health disallowing the establishment of tertiary hospitals within 50 kilometers of each other. In view of the DOH policy, Lazo said Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center in Batac City, is near Laoag and the city also hosts the Governor Roque B. Ablan Sr. Memorial Hospital, better known as the provincial hospital. Dacuycuy clarified though that Lazo’s basis was the feasibility study earlier made for the disapproved Northern Luzon Medical Center which was supposedly to be funded by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency as he stressed that the resolution they approved only gives authority to the city mayor to solicit and look for financial or government institutions that would give grants to the city for the establishment of the said hospital. The council’s voting profile for the said resolution was: in favor, Councilors Sonia Siazon, Derick Lao, Mariolito Carag, Joseph Tamayo, Benjamin Cabacungan, Althea Katrina F. Castro, and Dacuycuy; not in favor, Councilors Constante F. Dancel Jr. and Lazo; abstaining were Councilors Juan Conrado A. Respicio II and Edison U. Chua. Earlier, Fariñas also clarified that the resolution to establish a Northern Luzon Medical Center is no longer a possibility since the council has not passed a resolution that would authorize him to enter into an agreement with the Japanese government that would give a grant for the establishment of the said hospital. He added that what he is now asking the council is for him to be given authority to look for other financial or government institutions that would give a grant for the establishment of the hospital. The mayor said he would try to ask the United States, Canadian, Chinese governments as well as the European Union for possible grant. He further mentioned that he would also try to talk with the Japanese government. Should they find an institution that would bankroll the establishment of the tertiary hospital, Fariñas said he would recommend that the Laoag City General Hospital continue with its operations but would be transformed into a rehabilitation hospital. He further stated that some of hospital equipments at the LCGH would also be transferred to the tertiary hospital. He also explained that by rehabilitation hospital, he does not mean that it would become a rehabilitation center for drug users but rehabilitation hospital for recovering patients who had heart attacks and others who would need therapy. Dominic B. dela Cruz
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