Zamboanga City First District Representative Khymer Adan Olaso has earmarked an initial P40 million from his 2023 congressional fund for the construction of another public hospital in his district.
Olaso said putting up another public hospital in his district is vital as the population in the area is growing fast.
The first congressional district covers 37 barangays on this city’s west coast.
“The new hospital will complement the 51-bed capacity Labuan Public Hospital.”
The legislator said the new hospital will complement the 51-bed capacity Labuan Public Hospital that caters to patients from far-flung areas in the first district and nearby towns of Sibuco and Sirawai in Zamboanga del Norte.
The lawmaker stressed the patients in the west coast area are too far from the government-owned Zamboanga City Medical Center (ZCMC), which is in Barangay Sta. Catalina.
“The ZCMC is always full since it is catering to patients not only from this city but also from other areas of the region,” he explained.
The ZCMC is the referral hospital of the Zamboanga Peninsula and the provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi, which are already part of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Olaso said the new hospital will be built in Barangay Ayala, 16.5 kilometers away from City Hall.
Barangay Labuan where Labuan Public Hospital is located is 36 kilometers away from City Hall.
He said the hospital in Ayala, once in place, will greatly help the people coming from the highly populated barangays of Cawit, Maasin, Recodo, and Sinubong.
“It is high time that we will also have another hospital on the west coast.”
“It is high time that we will also have another hospital on the west coast,” Olaso said.
He already talked to some of his senator-friends to help him in the construction of the hospital, with some of them vowing to support the project.
