ILOILO CITY — In two to three years, residents of Iloilo City will be seeing a five-storey city health building that will house all health-related services of the city government.
City health officer Dr. Bernard Caspe on Monday said the construction of the building will be financed by the Department of Health (DOH). A PHP30-million initial budget from the PHP130 million needed fund will be downloaded to the city government by December this year.
“We plan to have this implemented phase-by-phase because this is a big building,” he said.
The ground floor of the building will house the medical consultation area, counseling room, laboratory for blood chemistry, ultrasound and x-ray. The second floor will be for minor surgical unit; third floor for dental services and cold room while the fourth and fifth floors will be for CHO personnel offices.
Caspe said they need to have their own building as they are now situated on a cramped space at the second floor of the city hall and even their administrative office is located in another floor.
“There, we will have a building with a complete level 2 laboratory. It is like a one-stop shop,” he said.
The PHP30 million to PHP40 million worth of equipment will also be provided by the DOH. The counterpart of the city government will only be the lot or the site and office furniture.
He said services will remain free once they start to operate in the new building.
The project, which is expected to start in 2019, will be built at the site of the old slaughterhouse in Barangay North San Jose, Molo district. (Perla Lena/PNA)