Dialysis center to rise in Lingayen

By Gabriel L. Cardinoza

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan -- A dialysis center will soon be established at the Lingayen District Hospital here.
    The project will be implemented through a partnership between the provincial government of Pangasinan and Luzon Medical System (LMS).
    The memorandum of agreement was signed by Gov. Ramon Guico 3rd and LMS President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Paul Soliman.
    A resolution authored by Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) board member Shiela Marie Baniqued approved on December 4 has authorized Guico to sign the MoA on behalf of the provincial government.
    Under the agreement, the LMS will put up 13 units of brand-new dialysis machines at LDH to provide necessary services to patients who are suffering from kidney failure or end-stage renal disease.
    In turn, the province will exclusively purchase from LMS the consumables for the use and operation of the machines during a six-year agreement period.
    Under the MoA, the dialysis center will be established to address the escalating mortality rate among financially challenged patients needing dialysis treatment by providing reasonable and affordable rates.
    "The equipment could further enhance better and more accessible ways of providing public health and medical services to the people of Pangasinan, especially the underprivileged," Baniqued said in her resolution.
    Meanwhile, the Eastern Pangasinan District Hospital (EPDH) in Tayug town will soon be adding a three-story building for its outpatient department and additional wards.
    The SP here has approved a resolution endorsing the project to the Department of Health (DoH).
    The EPDH, one of the 14 hospitals operated by the provincial government, caters to patients coming from the 10 towns of Pangasinan's sixth congressional district and nearby towns.
    "In line with the main thrusts of the present administration to have a mass-based health care program to accommodate all people, especially the less fortunate sector of society, there is a need to support the plan of the EPDH to provide a more sufficient and higher level of medical and health services to its patients by the construction of a three-story building," said the resolution jointly authored by Baniqued and board members Salvador Perez Jr. and Noel Bince.