Bello said the hospital will provide the medical needs and services, as well as the subsidy programs of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) for OFWs, their families, and dependents.
“This hospital is in recognition of the valuable contribution of our modern-day heroes, the overseas Filipino workers, in the growth of our economy. This will serve as among the legacies that President Duterte can leave behind for our OFWs,” he said.
The acquisition and installation of the facilities for the first-ever DOLE-OFW hospital and diagnostics center will be financed by a P150-million donation from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).
The OFW hospital is expected to be completed in 18 months. Once operational, it will be managed by the Department of Health (DOH). Similar facilities will be built in Visayas and Mindanao, Bello said.
OWWA Administrator Hans Leo Cacdac said a memorandum of understanding among concerned government agencies and other stakeholders for the construction and operation of the hospital is being finalized.
“The details are not yet final and even the bed capacity, the level of medical care, such as primary, secondary and tertiary, the plantilla staffing and the budget, but we hope to construct the hospital within one and a half year, within the Duterte Administration,” Cacdac said.
Cacdac said Bloomberry Cultural Foundation Inc. officials are “now discussing these matters with their engineers and architects to commence the project.”
On Labor Day, Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led the groundbreaking ceremony of the country’s first government-funded OFW Hospital and Diagnostic Center.
The two-hectare lot for the facility at the Provincial Engineering Office Compound in Barangay Sindalan, San Fernando City, was donated by the provincial government.
This article originally appeared on: https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/05/07/ofw-hospital-in-pampanga-will-be-state-of-the-art-bello/
