RDC pushes for upgrading of BRTTH to university hospital

By Marlon A. Loterte

Tuesday 31st of July 2012

LEGAZPI CITY, July 31 (PIA) -- The Regional Development Council (RDC) approved a resolution endorsing the upgrade of the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital (BRTTH) to a university hospital.

BRTTH is tertiary hospital run by the Department of Health. It serves as the primary regional health care facility for Bicolanos and venue for training of medical, nursing and paramedical practitioners.

The hospital is also a source of scientific researches on prevalent diseases in the region.

Established in 1918, BRTTH was formerly known as the Albay Provincial Hospital (APH) and is the first national government hospital in the region with a 50-bed capacity.

In 1970, the hospital bed capacity was increased to 75 and was designated three years later as a training and teaching hospital under Department Order No. 94.

The devolution provided under Republic Act (RA) 7160 or the Local Government Code of the Philippines, however, placed APH under the Albay Provincial Health Office (PHO) in 1993 and suffered drastically reduced funding.

RA 8051 was enacted in 1994 and it converted the hospital to what it is now, coupled with an increased bed capacity of 250 and provisions for modernization.

By 1998, the hospital was able to perform its first open heart surgery for 19 patients in collaboration with the Philippine Heart Center and the Albay Heart Foundation.

In 2000, it conducted 18 more open heart surgeries to become the leading heart care facility in the region.

It was able to acquire a soft loan from the government of Netherlands in 2004 for its heart lung and kidney sub-specialty.

The bed capacity has also been upgraded to 300 and endorsed by the RDC in 2004 to become the Southern Luzon Medical Center under Resolution No. 05-13.

In a resolution passed during a meeting at the regional office of the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) here, the RDC chaired by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, said the endorsement was based on the proposal submitted earlier by the DOH’s regional Center for Health and Development (CHD) for Bicol.

The CHD proposal was supportive of the opening of a College of Medicine at the Bicol University (BU) wherein BRTTH will be the teaching hospital for the medical, nursing and other paramedical courses offered.

The RDP also aims to provide access to health and family planning services and improve health, nutrition, and family planning outcomes.

The BRTTH upgrading as, Salceda said, carries with it the allocation of P1.151 billion by the national government for the establishment of a university hospital in cooperation with BU. (MAL/MSA-PIA5/ALbay)