Gov. Edgar M. Chatto has expressed high hopes that with yesterday's inauguration of the newly opened hospital ward and delivery room of the Capitol-funded Cong. Natalio Castillo Memorial Hospital in Loon, the project would strengthen the health initiatives of the province as already laid out by Chatto-Vice-Gov. Concepcion Lim administration's HEAT-IT Bohol mission-vision. “Next week, when its equipment are all in place and this new wing becomes fully operational, doctors here would no longer have the burden of letting their patients stay in tents, more exposed to the elements and prone to other diseases,” Chatto during the blessings of the edifice. The extent of the damage of the Oct. 15 earthquake is such that several district hospitals in the province are currently housing their patients in tents within their compounds which, according to the governor, would add to health hazards faced by hospital patients.

“This new addition would house a new operating room, emergency room and separate wards for male and female and could accommodate fifteen patients; plus a new bunkhouse would be constructed right beside it,” says provincial engineer Ben Redulla. Beside the newly-blessed building also stands the modular steel one donated by our Singaporean neighbors which measures 6X12 meters, composed of two rooms which the Provincial Government is also turning into a male and female ward. The same donor company is still awaiting for requests from the Provincial Government for additional modular steel buildings which, the governor said, could be shipped anytime whenever the Chatto-Lim Administration asks for it. With all lab equipment at the Loon Hospital totally destroyed by the earthquake, Chatto has already sent a letter request to Department of Health Sec. Enrique Ona to help the province acquire new ones.

Redulla and Provincial General Services Office's engineer Eustaquio Caliao have briefed the governor that both the DPWH and the DOH have already allocated funds to help in the rehab of our district hospitals but are only waiting for a notice from the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau (MGB) to proceed with the disbursement of funds. MGB representatives would be coming over to Bohol to give their final assessment of the province's overall hazard situation. Bohol First District Rep. Rene Relampagos has earlier donated a microscope and a hematology analyzer worth P1.5 million to the Loon Hospital. Chatto has already directed Dr. Em-em Uy to evaluate all other hospitals in the province and inform him of all the needs so that proper budget allocations could be made and appropriate requests to national health agencies could immediately be drawn and taken care of. (Janet Lim-Villarojo)