BANTAYAN, CEBU — Flores Cordova, 69 years old and a dialysis patient from Brgy. Bawud in this municipality, had to cross the channel three times a week just to get her regular treatment in Bogo City.
She had to rent a room there as treatment procedure sometimes would end very late at night, so that going back to the island would no longer be feasible.
Now, her burden has been considerably lessened after Gov. Gwen Garcia, DOH officials, and the mayors of Bantayan Island inaugurated the ten-unit Hemodialysis Center located at the Capitol-run Bantayan District Hospital in the neighboring Brgy. Ticad in this town on March 20.
This is the fifth Hemodialysis Center in as many Capitol-run hospitals after the establishment of such facilities in the Provincial Hospitals in Balamban (10 dialysis machines), Danao (15 dialysis machines), Carcar (15 dialysis machines), and just recently, Camotes’ Ricardo Maningo Memorial Hospital (10 dialysis machines).
All in all, the Capitol-run hemodialysis centers have a total of 60 dialysis machines, with plans of adding more for Balamban and opening a hemodialysis center in the Provincial Hospital in Bogo City.
“Lipay kaayo, ma’am, kay dili na mi maglarga-larga,” Cordova told 𝐒𝐮𝐠𝐛𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬. “Pait kaayo kay sa Bogo, nag-abang gyod mi didto, cuatro mil ang buwan.”
Also present during the ceremony were DOH Undersecretary and concurrent regional director Dr. Jaime Bernadas; Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center chief, Dr. Gerardo Aquino; and the Capitol’s partner in this endeavor, Medtronix Medical Supplies and Equipment proprietor Jona Brigida Navarro.
Board Members Stanley Caminero and Kerrie Shimura; and Bantayan Mayor Art Despi, Santa Fe Mayor Ithamar Espinosa, and Madridejos Mayor Romeo Villaceran were also around to witness the historic occasion.
Cordova, who is suffering from both diabetes and kidney disease, said that the P4,000 that she now considers as savings can very well be used in her dialysis treatment without having to leave the island.
She is just one among the hundreds of dialysis patients in the three towns of Bantayan Island whose hope has been rekindled by the opening of this medical facility right at the heart of the island.
The Department of Health has already issued a License to Operate for the Dialysis Center here, effectively sparing renal patients from the physically taxing and financially demanding trip to mainland Cebu for prompt and constant dialysis treatment.
“Kining tanan, damgo ra kaniadto sa atong mga kaigsuonan nga labing nanginahanglan. Karon nahimo na gyong kamatuoran. Labaw sa tanan, pasalamatan nato ang Ginoo,” Gov. Garcia said in her speech. | Babie Jane Revecoy