Two hospitals are set to rise in two local government units (LGUs) in northern Negros Occidental starting next year to boost the delivery of healthcare services among their constituents.

These include the Cadiz City General Hospital and the Abelardo and Remedios Bantug Memorial Hospital in Victorias City.

As of Tuesday, December 19, the detailed engineering study and cost analysis for the hospital project in Cadiz City is underway for submission to the Land Bank of the Philippines, which will grant a loan to the city for its construction.

“We hope we can submit it to the Land Bank within the year. The project can be completed in 14 months,” Mayor Salvador Escalante, Jr. said in an interview yesterday.

He added that some P250 million has been earmarked for the hospital building and P50 million for the equipment.

“The Cadiz City General Hospital in Barangay Tinampaan will have an initial 50 beds, but the building can be expanded to accommodate 100 beds,” the mayor said.

In Victorias City, Mayor Javier Miguel Benitez said the Abelardo and Remedios Bantug Memorial Hospital is expected to begin operations next year.

“We will have a Level 1 hospital, fully equipped and operational by 2024,” Benitez said in a separate interview.

Formerly known as the Kaayong Lawas Foundation Hospital, the soon-to-open healthcare facility is being developed by the Benitez administration into a higher-level hospital after the Victorias Kaayong Lawas Foundation Inc. donated the 2,000-square meter lot and the building to the city government.

Some P58 million has been allocated for the development of the new hospital, including the initial P17 million funding in 2022 and an additional P41 million this year.

The hospital will also include a dialysis center so that patients in the city will no longer travel to Bacolod City for treatment, Benitez said. (PNA)