R1MC eclipses private hospitals in terms of equipment

Extreme Right is Rep. Gina de Venecia (4th District, Pangasinan), the main benefactor of the hospital, posing for posterity with former President Fidel V. Ramos and husband former Speaker Joe de Venecia

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

DAGUPAN CITY –Dr. Roland Mejia would not say that Region 1 Medical Center is at par with top private hospitals in this city, but said some of the medical equipment of his hospital could not be found  in private hospitals.

Dr. Mejia cited for one the Apheresis method in the state-of-the-art laboratory.

“The method  is used during the dengue season. During blood transfusion the Apheresis machine is used. It is only in Region 1 that has that kind of machine, and the platelet separator. Tayo lang meron noon.”

He said the only equipment that the government hospital lacked is the 64 slice CT scan.

“But next year, we will be given the 16 slice CT scan which has provision of 64 augments for 64 slices,” he stressed.

Mejia said that there are mostly 400 indigent patients that patronize the hospitals everyday.

He proudly stated that R1MCs Out –Patient- Department and the Emergency Room are fully air-conditioned.

Just like all modern hospitals in Manila, he said the medical laboratory will be equipped by automatic ticketing machine that is run by a computer.

Also set for expansion are the operating room and a four-level parking area. Mejia said the operating room will be transformed from five beds to 16 beds in five-year period.

R1MC is geared to be transformed to a 600-bed hospital from its present 300-bed. The bill filed by Rep. Gina de Venecia (4th District, Pangasinan), the main benefactor of the hospital, has already been approved by the two Houses of Congress.

With the bill becoming a law, R1MC would be the biggest government runs hospital outside Metro Manila.

Mejia hopes that the appropriation of the hospital’s bed expansion would be included in the 2012 national budget.