PPH, WPDH facilities to undergo infra upgrade anew

• Source: http://punch.dagupan.com/articles/news/2018/06/pph-wpdh-facilities-to-undergo-infra-upgrade-anew/
• Sunday, June 17, 2018

By Mark Gerry Naval Oblanca (Sunday Punch)

CAPITOL NEWS

LINGAYEN – Two provincial government – run healthcare facilities — the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital (PPH) and the Western Pangasinan District Hospital (WPDH) located in cities of San Carlos and Alaminos, respectively, are set for infrastructure upgrading anew.

To jumpstart the rehabilitation and expansion works in PPH and WPDH, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP), on its regular session held on June 11, has authorized Governor Amado I. Espino, III to ink a memorandum of agreement with the Department of Health (DOH) Region 1.

Provincial Health Officer Anna Maria Teresa De Guzman bared that the provincial government thru the Provincial Health Office has again secured the Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP) of the DOH to upgrade the service capabilities of the provincial government – run hospitals.

“The upgrading of hospital facilities forms part of DOH’s HFEP, a program which aims to improve health facilities in order to sufficiently provide emergency and primary health care services to the people,” Dr. De Guzman said.

The provincial health officer likewise stated that the province annually secures the DOH – funded infrastructure upgrading for its 14 hospitals.

“Almost all community and district hospitals of the province are classified by the DOH as Level I, except the PPH which is classified as Level II. For our hospitals to be categorized Level II, we have to upgrade our facilities as prescribed by the DOH,” De Guzman said.

Set for infra upgrading in PPH are the medical ward, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) while rehab works for pedia/medical ward, emergency room/pharmacy, and laboratory building will be undertaken at WPDH.

Fourth district Board Member Jeremy Agerico Rosario, SP committee chairperson on health, said the DOH has allotted Php10.89 million for the upgrading of the PPH facilities while Php3.465 million is for the WPDH to be implemented by the provincial government after the transfer of funds from the DOH.

For the upgrading of WPDH, however, the provincial government has agreed that the Department of Public Works and Highways – Pangasinan 1st Engineering Office will undertake the project implementation.

HFEP is the national government’s vehicle for which healthcare facilities receive assistance for infrastructure improvement and equipment upgrade.

Since 2007, the DOH thru its HFEP has upgraded government healthcare facilities to include barangay health stations, rural health units, district hospitals, provincial hospitals, and DOH – retained hospitals.