TACLOBAN CITY- The House of Representatives has approved separately on third and final reading the creation of a hospital facility that will cater the medical needs of the people of Samar Island and the expansion of a provincial hospital based in Catbalogan City.
The proposed Samar Island Medical Center (SIMC), which will be located in Calbayog City, was approved by the Lower House during their Jan.20 plenary session and principally authored by Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez, wife of Leyte Rep. and House Majority Floor Leader Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
Rep. Romualdez said that the establishment of the SIMC, as contained under House Bill 8195, would result in the people of Samar provinces not travelling to Tacloban City to seek for medical assistance, particularly at the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center (EVRMC).
“The establishment of the Samar Island Medical Center would help address the hours-long travel times patients and their families take to travel to avail of treatment at the nearest government tertiary hospital in Tacloban City, Leyte by providing affordable and accessible hospital care for all on the island of Samar,” the lady solon said.
Samar Island is composed of the provinces of Samar, Eastern Samar, and Northern Samar.
The proposed Samar Island hospital is a 300-bed health facility which will be under the administration of the Department of Health.
It would be constructed in a four-hectare lot offered by the city government of Calbayog.
Meantime, the proposed measure for the expansion of the Samar Provincial Hospital (SPH) located in Catbalogan City was also approved on the third and final reading by the Lower House on Jan.20.
HB 8196 is authored by Samar Rep. Sharee Ann Tan which proposes to make the provincial hospital into a 220-bed capacity from its current 100-bed capacity.
The SPH is under the supervision of the provincial government.
(JOEY A. GABIETA)

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