• CHERYL G. CRUZ
A cleaner, spacious, and modern Emergency Room of Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City will reopen next week, following three months of renovation, worth P92 million.
CLMMRH Medical Center chief, Dr. Joan Cerrada, in a press conference Jan. 23, said she hopes the patients can be served better since the ER has been upgraded.
“We’re so happy that we have delivered this promise. I hope we can be able to really serve patients better because now the ER is in a better condition, not only for the patients but also the healthcare workers attending to them,” she stressed.
The ER area is the same, but the design is different. Among the upgrades unveiled yesterday include a trauma bay, reverse isolation, pedia and adult isolation rooms, CCTVs in certain areas, a paging system and nurses call button, use of oxygen manifolds instead of tanks, and toilets, among others.
The ER still has 65 beds and can cater to 80 to 120 patients daily, but the hospital management plans to use more stretcher trolleys to maximize space. There are currently 29 trolleys, with 30 more arriving.
The hospital said in a statement that the upgraded facilities and improved systems “strengthen its role as a tertiary referral hospital capable of responding to the growing emergency healthcare needs of the Negros Island Region.”
The new ER is designed to improve patient flow, enhance efficiency in critical care response, and provide a safer, more dignified environment for both patients and healthcare workers, it added.
Cerrada earlier said the major renovation of the ER was long overdue.
“Our last full renovation was many years ago. While we’ve made some small improvements since then, the reality is, we need a comprehensive overhaul,” she had said, noting past complaints on cleanliness and overcrowding at the ER.
Cerrada said measures are in place “to make the upgraded ER lasts longer”, like the hiring of more housekeeping staff and institutional workers. | CGC
