By Raymond Africa and Jocelyn Montemayor
SENATORS Richard Gordon and Joel Villanueva yesterday said unspent calamity funds for 2020 and 2021 totaling P19.445 billion can be used to finance the overhaul or repair of the Philippine General Hospital that was hit last Sunday by a fire of still undetermined origin.
“The calamity (fund) should be out into focus right away. Nothing should be spared…this is your chance now to fix PGH. Not just the third floor. There are damages. It could have damaged the computers, the machines, the water damage would have seeped down the second floor where they have billing and admissions. So, the records were also compromised,” Gordon said in an interview with ANC.
Villanueva said the repair should start immediately, adding: “The PGH should be repaired in the same way that its treats patients–urgently–and the available balance of the Calamity Fund for the two fiscal years can make this possible.”
PGH Director Dr. Dr. Gerardo “Gap” Legaspi, meanwhile, said fire authorities and investigators are looking at faulty electrical wiring and circuit breakers as the possible causes of the fire at the third floor of the hospital that led to the evacuation of new-born babies and other patients.
The hospital was forced to close its emergency room to serve as evacuation center for displaced patients.
Gordon, also the Philippine Red Cross chairman, said the Department of Public Works and Highways can lead the overhaul of the entire PGH complex, and not only the area where the fire broke out.
“There must be an overhaul, not just of the (damaged) area, but the whole PGH complex, because it’s very many years old. The latest renovation was done in 1985,” Gordon said, adding the government can also explore a public-private partnership for the rehabilitation of the state-owned hospital that has a 1,500-bed capacity.
Under the 2021 national budget, Villanueva said the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Fund, the calamity fund’s official name, has been appropriated P20 billion, with P5 billion intended for the rehabilitation of war-torn Marawi City.
On top of this, he said there is an unspent P5.14 billion from the 2020 NDRRMF that was carried over for 2021 spending, which brings to P24.14 billion the starting year balance of the fund. As April 30 this yeare, Villanueva said only P2.909 billion has been released, while P2.779 is up for release, which leaves P19.445 billion remaining in the calamity fund.
He said a provision of the national budget actually allows disbursement of funds “for man-made calamities” such as a town hit by fire.
He said that even if the PGH is covered by insurance, it may not be enough to rehabilitate the damaged part of the hospital.
“That’s why we need to use the calamity fund,” he said.
Legaspi, during the Laging Handa public briefing, said damage assessment is still being done but estimated that it may not be lower than P50 million as some of the equipment that were lost costs P1 million to P3 million per set.
He said that based on the initial findings of investigators, the fire spread through the ceiling of the third floor that probers said maybe due to faulty electrical wiring and circuit breakers.
Legaspi said hardest hit by the fire was the hospital’s operating room, supply, and autoclave room where some of the equipment for the operating rooms are washed, sterilized and kept.
“It is very vital to conducting of the daily operations,” he said.
He said the PGH has temporarily suspended accepting COVID-19 patients for a day, stopped admission at their emergency room and suspended conducting surgical procedures. PGH conducts some specialized procedures, including operations on COVID-19 patients that need surgery.
Sen. Leila De Lima has commended the courage and heroic acts of nurses and other hospital staff who safely evacuated 35 babies after fire razed a part of the PGH.
De Lima particularly noted the heroics of Kathrina Bianca Macabbabad, an NICU nurse, who in a social media post shared how she and fellow nurse Jomar Mallari, and other co-workers saved the babies from the NICU located at the 4th floor.
