IN a well-attended ceremony, Phase 1 of the ambitious P550-M Naga City General Hospital (NCGH) was blessed and inaugurated on Tuesday, December 12, paving the way for the anticipated commencement of its operations later this month.

The Department of Health in Bicol issued the hospital’s license to operate just two hours before the inaugural ceremony, solidifying the city government’s triumph in providing top-notch medical care and services at no cost to constituents.

Situated at the Balatas Development Center, alongside notable structures like the Center for Safety and Resiliency (CeSaR) and the Legacy Residences, the NCGH will initially function as a Level 1 hospital, utilizing the newly-completed Phase 1 building, which costs approximately P348-M.

Phase II, with a budgetary allocation of P250-M, is slated for construction in 2025 and is expected to be operational by 2026.

Dr. Joseph Sanchez, Chief of the Naga City Hospital (NCH) and poised to lead the NCGH, envisions the newly-built hospital offering expanded services surpassing those of the old hospital. Mayor Legacion’s commitment to equipping the NCGH with modern equipment ensures a standard of service that exceeds the offerings of the NCH.

City Councilor Jose Rañola, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on health, said that the NCGH sprawls across a 33,199-square-meter land, funded by the city’s loan from the Development Bank of the Philippines. He emphasized that the Naga City General Hospital stands as a testament to Mayor Legacion’s dedicated leadership in delivering  quality services to Nagueño families.

A glance at the NCGH building layout reveals:

The general hospital boasts 95 beds and includes ancillaries such as an out-patient department, dietary building, administration office, utility services, a 2 MVA capacity power supply for the entire NCGH compound, cistern tank, and pump house.

Equipped with automated fire detection alarm and suppression system, air-conditioned rooms, fully digital and electronic-capable intercoms, automated oxygen gas outlet for ward rooms, and public Wi-Fi.

The hospital’s building layout indicates:

On the ground floor: emergency room with 12 beds, minor operating room, admission, main lobby/information center, 1 unit elevator, offices for accounting, billing, PhilHealth, social services, pharmacy, comfort rooms, CR for PWDs, clinical laboratory, radiology center, 12-bed capacity dialysis center, and medical gas manifold room.

On the second floor: operating room complex with instrument prep room, delivery room, labor room, 4 operating rooms, NICU, central supply room, high-risk four-bed labor room, four-bed recovery room, 2 two-bed ward rooms, 3 four-bed ward rooms, 3 five-bed ward rooms, one unit nurses’ station, and 1 one-bed isolation room, and common comfort room/PWD.

On the third floor: a doctors’ quarter, counsel/family/prayer room, department head office, DOH V-approved six-bed ICU center, 3-unit nurses’ station, 12 five-bed ward rooms, 1 two-bed ward room, 1 one-bed isolation room, newborn screening room, and a common comfort room/PWDs.