Hospital road opens; 11 million Hospital equipment delivered

You must have heard the story of how a pregnant woman gave birth inside a tricycle, while on her way to the General Santos City Hospital through Fernandez Street, the hospital road from the National Highway-Gaisano junction.  The ride was so bumpy owing to the wide craters along the asphalt road causing the poor woman to have contractions, which immediately resulted to her giving birth even before reaching the hospital gates.

Whether that story is true or just one of those urban legends developed overtime, one thing is certain though.  The hospital road is definitely one of GenSan’s ugliest and almost impassable city artery.  Although it is the shortest route to the City Hospital (formerly called District or Emergency), drivers try to avoid it due to its moon-surface condition.  The craters are wide and deep and although they are constantly filled with gravel, this solution is only temporary since rain water washes them away just as fast.

But now, we have good news for everyone.  The GenSan Hospital Road or Fernandez Street is now fully concreted!

Finished at the cost of P6.26 million, including the construction of a drainage system, the whole concreted road measures 700 linear meters and stops right the the corner turning right to the hospital entrance and about 10 meters ahead to the GenSan City Water District Building.

Other than that, the first batch of 11 million worth of Hospital equipment from the Department of Health has arrived and turned over to city officials yesterday.  This was through the initiative of Congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio and Mayor Jun Acharon who were present at yesterday’s presentation of the following equipment:

• 1 unit Radio Fluoro X-ray 500 ma with film processor  – P 4.6 million
• 2 units Operating Table @ P480,000 each –  P 900.000
• Mobile X-ray unit 300Ma  –  P1.56 million

For delivery anytime this month are the following:

• 1 unit Generator  –  P2.45 million
• 2 units Operating Room LED lights @ 785,000 each –  1.57 million

Noteworthy is the delivery of the Generator Set within this month at because that will pave the way for the full use of the Intensive Care Unit of the GenSan Hospital.  The 400 KVA genset can reportedly service a whole city block and once this happens, the hospital patients and workers can expect an uninterrupted power supply 24/7.

According to City Mayor Jun Acharon, once the ICU is operational, this strenghten’s the city’s bid to be elevated from being classified as Secondary Hospital currently to being a Tertiary Hospital.

With these in place, and many more improvements on the GenSan City Hospital coming up, we can only hope for a better services coming from them.