• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Health Undersecretary Mary Ann Maestral is pushing for the establishment of a mental health facility in Negros Occidental.
“The Department of Health has the money and capacity to build such facility, they just need a land for it,” Maestral said yesterday.
Maestral, who hails from Negros Occidental, said that Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson assured the DOH officials that the province will look for a land, where the mental hospital can be established.
She joined officials of the DOH-Negros Island Region during a courtesy call on the governor on Tuesday.
Dr. Ma. Girlie Pinongan, provincial health officer, earlier said that the provincial government is exploring the possibility of creating its own mental health facility, which is also being pushed by La Carlota City Mayor Rex Jalando-on, who is also a medical doctor.
Pinongan said that mental health is also a concern for almost all local government units.
Meanwhile, Maestral said they wanted to know the expectations of Lacson on the establishment of the DOH regional office in NIR.
She noted that the governor wants equipment for public hospitals, being managed by the provincial government of Negros Occidental, which is now being processed.
As stipulated in the provisions of Republic Act 12000, also known as the NIR Act, the DOH regional office will be established in Negros Oriental.
Maestral said that he thanked Lacson for giving the DOH an office space at the Negros Residences, which they can also use as a satellite office.
She added that Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa himself envisions to have a hospital in every province.
There is a plan to further improve the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City as well as the public hospital in Dumaguete City, and to open health facilities in strategic areas of the NIR, which are far from the hospitals. | GB
