UNFAZED by the recent Covid-19 resurgence, Rosario Memorial Hospital (RMH) in Guagua, Pampanga, has continued its expansion plans that involves “a sizable amount of investment” to upgrade its facilities and modernize the equipment beyond expectations from a Level 2 health-care institution.
In an e-mail interview, RMH Medical Director (MD) Dr. Lourdes Garcia Cordova bared that such initiative, per approval of their management, is progressing as scheduled, except for those that cannot be accomplished because of the spike of Covid-19 cases in the country lately that led to stricter community quarantines in Metro Manila and other areas nationwide.
“The expansion, structurally speaking, has not been seriously affected by the present pandemic, but it somehow caused some delays because of government restrictions imposed by the IATF [Inter-Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases],” she said.
The MD referred to the stalled inauguration last month of the newly built Medical Arts Building and Dialysis Center.
“It has been the intention of management to make the new facilities and services available to its prospective patients but, unfortunately, because of the present pandemic, the plan will have to be put on hold, as patients are now unwilling to be confined in the hospital or even to have a person-to-person consultation with the attending physician,” Cordova explained.
Seated within the more than 2-hectare lot of the hospital, the Medical Arts Building is where the doctors’ out-patient clinics are located, while the Dialysis Center is well-equipped with modern medical technologies, including a state-of-the-art hemodialysis equipment and an osmosis machine that cannot be found elsewhere in the province.
While waiting for the right time and opportunity to formally introduce them to prospective patients, she noted that RMH can already utilize the new facilities and equipment if needed since their licenses and permits have already been secured.
The family-owned company looks forward to resume the launch of these new facilities once the lockdowns are lifted or downgraded and the Covid-19 situation in Guagua town, where the hospital is situated, and other parts of Pampanga improves further.
Going green
WHILE RMH has been leading the provision of affordable and quality health-care service within and outside of its home province since its inception in 1994, it has also transitioned into a “green” hospital.
According to her, the management believes that it must also be an advocate of environmental protection as shown in its eco-friendly facilities and equipment.
“We have installed solar panels in order to decrease our electric consumption,” cited the medical director. “We have installed a sewage treatment plant so we can reuse our wastewater for toilet use and to water our plants.”
Replacing the old 34-bed RMH building, the newly built green hospital is found in an adjacent property acquired by its owner, Engr. Eulogio del Carmen. Currently, its 98 beds separately serve patients with or without Covid-19.
The hospital now boasts of in-patient specialties and subspecialties, tertiary diagnostics and laboratory services. Soon to open are the six-theater ambulatory/day surgery center, eye center, ENT, dental, endoscopy, burn and wound center, chronic and assistive living facility, wellness center and stem cell therapy center, and hostel for medical tourism.
“Given the additional and improved facilities the RMH now have, we can humbly say that its capability to serve the community could be considered a lot better than before, in terms of medical and health services that RMH can offer and the quality of medical and health services that its patients will receive,” Cordova stressed.