Construction of the new district hospital in Loon is set to start in the first half of the year after issues on the facility’s location were addressed by allocating a new site for the project, an official said.
According to Mayor Elvie Relampagos, the P80-million facility will be erected in a new site in Barangay Canhangdon instead of building it in the same location of the old quake-hit district hospital in Barangay Moto Norte.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) refused to issue a clearance for the construction as the previous site was deemed unsafe after the old structure was left in ruins by the tremor that hit Bohol in 2013.
Other proposed locations were also not approved by the MGB.
However, the government was able to secure a property considered safe by the agency in 2016.
A groundbreaking ceremony led by former health secretary Paulyn Ubial was shortly after held.
Relampagos said that the multi-million, national government-funded facility will be an octagon-shaped, one-story structure.
It will house facilities and rooms for OB-Gyne, surgery and pediatrics, among others and will have 100 beds, a significant increase from the old hospital which had a 25-bed capacity.
Once completed, the hospital will particularly cater to patients in Loon and neighboring towns Antequera, Maribojoc, Calape and Tubigon. (A. Doydora)