NOTE: THIS STORY WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE BOHOL CHRONICLE’S SUNDAY PRINT EDITION.
First District Representative Edgar Chatto has filed in Congress House Bill No. 8876 renaming the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital to Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Medical Center.
Chatto bared this during COVID-19 Ceremonial Vaccination yesterday at the hospital grounds.
The bill also establishes the Cortes Campus as an extension of the Gallares Hospital in Tagbilaran City.
The filing of the bill is in accordance to the development plans of Bohol under the leadership of Gov. Art Yap, Chatto said, to help strengthen the health system which is necessary to address not only the present pandemic but also future health challenges in the province.
The change of the name is envisioned to reflect the added and improved health services provided to its patient, with GCGMH currently a level 3 hospital with specialty centers and training facilities.
It will also reflect the ongoing expansion in Cortes which is expected to be a modern medical complex with facilities for critical health care, diagnostics, dialysis, operating units, and patient care, among others. The extension hospital in Cortes is also envisioned to have an improved center for infectious diseases and tropical medicine as well as the first center in the province dedicated to mental health and behavioral sciences.
“The bill already provides for the needed elements to make the Cortes extension operational. We hope to be able to procure the equipment within this year so that the Cortes extension can be operational when the ongoing construction of Phase 1 is completed next year, stated Chatto.
The Cortes extension will be under the management of Gallares Hospital in Tagbilaran City with additional staffing to support the expansion of bed capacities and the specialized services, he added.
“Together with our leaders and health workers, we hope to be able to really provide what our people need in terms of health care,” Chatto ended thanking Gallares chief Dr. Mutya Kismet Tirol-Macuno and the Department of Health (DOH) for the continued partnership.
Chatto also reported progress in the establishment of the extension Dialysis Center in Tubigon, which equipment is now available and ready for delivery, following approval of physical facility improvement according to DOH Chief of the Hospital Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) Director Leonita Gorgolon.
“We will not stop working for health care because it is only through healthy people that we can develop and grow as we dream the kind of province that we want to have,” concluded Chatto.
The modernization of the Gallares Hospital supports the Universal Health Program of the national government. It is designed to greatly improve medical facilities and services, ensure accessibility and affordability of health care in the province and open opportunities to Boholano professionals in the medical field.