A lawmaker on Tuesday expressed gratitude for President Duterte’s fulfillment of a campaign promise to upgrade the Valenzuela Medical Center’s operational capacity to meet the growing needs of local residents.
In 2018, Valenzuela City Rep. Eric Martinez filed a bill seeking to increase of VMC’s bed capacity from 200 to 500 to cope with the increasing demand for public health care in the city.
The P208-million project would include an expanded radiology department, operating room complex and surgical intensive care, hemodialysis, chemotherapy and ambulatory surgical units.
Since the approval of the VMC expansion project in 2018, the hospital has constructed an Infectious Disease Clinic and warehouse building which has a 134-bed operating capacity, two emergency rooms—one for infectious and another for non-infectious diseases, and a Malasakit Center.
“I am very much thankful to President Duterte, as well to Sen. (Christopher) Go, who sponsored the bill for the VMC expansion project; Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, and Valenzuela City 1st. Dist. Wes Gatchalian, who were co-authors, and Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian, who spearheaded the local government efforts on the realization of the project,” Martinez said.
Set for completion by June 2023, the VMC aims to become the “People’s Choice” by 2028 through its mission of providing institutionalized patient-centered and pandemic-resilient health care.
The project was rolled out by the office of Go through the Department of Health’s (DOH) Health Facilities Enhancement Program.