DAGUPAN CITY — Construction of the two-story Diagnostic Center and Lying-in Clinic is now almost complete and expected to be operational by May this year.
Dagupan City health officer Dr. Ophelia Rivera, in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday, said the facility will provide free medical services to residents of this city once completed.
“The facility, construction of which started February last year, is now on finishing or painting phase,” Rivera said.
She said residents of Dagupan can avail of free X-ray, Echo Cardiogram (ECG), Ultrasound and blood test and maternity clinic with eight to nine-bed capacity for normal birth delivery of pregnant women.
“The ground floor will be the lying-in clinic or the maternity clinic for normal birth delivery, while the second floor will be the laboratory,” Rivera said.
She reiterated that, although there are several hospitals around the city, the diagnostic center and lying-in clinic offers services for free but only to Dagupenos.
“With this facility, residents of Dagupan need not add to the number of patients especially in Region One Medical Center, which we know has a lot of patients coming from the all over region 1,” Rivera said.
According to the City Information Office, the building has been funded by the Department of Health with PHP10 million under its Health Facilities Enhancement Program; PHP2 million from Senator Risa Hontiveros’ allocation; and the city’s PHP3-million counterpart.
Rivera further said the facility would add to the Alagan Balon Dagupan and Unli Serbisyo Program of the city government.
“Presently, one of the activities under Alagan Balon Dagupan is the Ubo Patrol to reach Dagupenos suffering from two- week-long cough presumptive of Tuberculosis. Instead of them going to the City Health Office (CHO), we are the ones who go to them,” she said.
In this activity, she said, the CHO continues to conduct consultation with patients while the Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. does the X-ray examination for suspected Tuberculosis patients in the city.
Ubo Patrol has been to 15 barangays of the city so far. (Hilda Austria/PNA)
