Itogon dialysis center opens

FIRST DIALYSIS CENTER -- Benguet Gov. Melchor Diclas (4th from left), Itogon Mayor Bernard Waclin (8th from left) and Benguet Lone District Rep. Eric Yap (9th from left) led the inauguration of Itogon’s first dialysis center on Thursday (Oct. 12, 2023). The facility, located in Barangay Ucab, currently has 12 dialysis beds to cater to 36 patients daily. (Photo courtesy of Lina Sotelo)

By Liza Agoot 

ITOGON, Benguet – Around 100 patients are initially eyed to benefit from the first municipality-run dialysis center in Itogon, which was inaugurated in Barangay Ucab on Thursday.
    Mayor Bernard Waclin, in an interview on the sidelines of the launching program, said they talked to 40 of patients who were traced based on the Dept. of Social Welfare and Development Cordillera statistics.
    “We hope that this center will ease the financial burden of our people who do not have to pay so much for transportation in going to the hospitals in Baguio,” he said in Ilocano, the local dialect.
    He said the office of Benguet Rep. Eric Yap will shoulder transportation of patients.
    The dialysis center is manned by 14 staff, including eight nurses, a manager, an administrator, and utility personnel, among others.
    Waclin said PhilHealth-accredited Modern Healthcare Management Company (MHMC) will help operate the center, which has 12 dialysis beds currently that can cater to at least 36 patients a day.
    He said the center’s facilities and ambulances are donations from different companies. -- PNA