THE city-owned hospital will not only serve city residents but will also become referral facility for patients that cannot be accommodated by the Southern Philippines Medical Center, an official said.
Dr. Evelyno Buenaventura, co-chairperson of the Technical Working Group (TWG) Secretariat for the Davao City Public Hospital, said the Department of Health has assessed the facility and has concluded that it can accommodate patients from other parts of the Davao Region that cannot be accommodated by the bigger hospital.
“Dili siya ingon nga Davao City lang pwede pud siya mo-cater from other municipalities, mahimo siyang referral hospital,” said Buenaventura, adding that the city government will start the site development this year.
The city aims to open the hospital as a Level 1 medical facility with specialists departments such as Ob-Gyne, surgery, pediatrics, and a Level 2 laboratory. It will be a hospital that can cater to almost all medical services except high-end procedures.
Buenaventura bared that the design of the floor plan for the city hospital is almost finished while the site development has also started using the Php250 million funds released for the purpose. The hospital will rise on a 3.2 hectare area in Mintal with a the total floor area of 20,000 (combined) square meters.
He added that the city also aims to develop the city hospital into a Level 2 facility in the future. This means it will have a blood bank, dialysis, Intensive Care Unit, and additional services for high-end cases.
Buenaventura said that the city needs to have more specialists to level up its medical care.
He said that the draft ordinance for the creation of 194 plantilla positions for the hospital is under review by the Sangguniang Panlungsod in close coordination with Davao City Human Resources Management Office.
“Based on our Gant Chart we are on time. We are now preparing the site and the floor plan and the preliminaries needed by the DOH for the license to operate,” Buenaventura said.
