Negros Oriental seeks funds from DOH for hospital block construction
by: Rachelle M. Nessia
DUMAGUETE CITY, March 22 (PIA) --- The provincial government of Negros Oriental seeks financial aid from the Department of Health (DOH) for the construction of a four-storey central block inside the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) compound.
Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo said the central block construction is pegged to cost around P300M.
The governor has raised the request to DOH Secretary Enrique Ona in an earlier talk and the latter has intimated that the department will support the construction project.
Degamo said the provincial government is currently in the process of procuring 40-footer sea vans costing about P1 million to be used as temporary wards at the NOPH.
The central block construction inside the NOPH was a project of the late Gov. Emilio C. Macias II who wanted to decongest the perennially overcrowded government hospital.
A tertiary-level hospital, NOPH's bed capacity is only at 250 yet records show that it has an average daily admission of 350 patients.
The first two storeys of the proposed central block will be utilized for maternal and surgical wards while the next two floors will house private wards.
“Gov. Degamo intends to finish this project under his term,” said Capitol Information Officer Adrian Sedillo. (PIA-Negros Oriental/RMN)
Dumaguete ICT group pushes for NegOr as country’s BPO destinations
By: Jennifer Catan-Tilos
DUMAGUETE CITY Mar 23 (PIA) The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Association continued to promote Dumaguete City as the prime outsourcing destinations in the country.
ICT Council Secretary Danah Fortunato cited Dumaguete City as one of the country's top ten outsourcing locations in 2010 with the overall score of 74 percent on the next wave cities scorecard.
In a meeting with local stakeholders, the ICT official said the business process outsourcing (BPO) companies here hit the 6,000 mark of the workforce last year enough to sustain the local economy and social development in the city.
While the ICT stakeholders pushing for Dumaguete as IT-BPO destination of choice in the country due to its reputation as university town, Fortunato doubted the reliability of power supply.
She said her group has planned to discuss with Noreco officials to address power shortage or reduce brown outs so not to interrupt ICT operations in the city.
However, Provincial Governor Roel Degamo said the problem is not with Noreco alone but to include Energy Development Corporation (EDC) and National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) as he cited in particular the dismantling of aging plants.
As an engineer by profession, Governor Degamo stated that old cable plants operating more than 30 years would worsen power supply deficit.
Degamo hopes power sectors would respond the immediate need for an excellent power supply to achieve ICT’s goal.
Meantime, Fortunato said the productivity enhancement and capacity building for the local electronics sector, particularly the small and mediumsized enterprises ( SMEs ), be given priority as leading local economic drivers. (PIA NegOr/JCT)