The Ilocos Training and Regional Medical Center (ITRMC) in San Fernando City, La Union will soon have a three-story multi-specialty center, operating room complex, and patient wards building.
 
The construction of the facility will be funded under the Department of Health’s (DOH) Health Facilities Enhancement Program (HFEP), with a funding cost of P500 million that shall be constructed from 2024 to 2025.

Improving bed-to-population ratio
 
The facilities’ expansion aims to address the imbalance between bed capacity and hospital demand at the ITRMC, which directly affects patient experience and the hospital’s operation effectiveness.
 
Currently, the ITRMC only has one bed available for 4,762 individuals seeking medical treatment, a ratio that is beyond the target Philippine standard of one bed for every 1,000 and the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of 1:800.
 
Data on the average yearly total admission of the hospital from 2016-2019 shows an average growth rate of 12% and 27,041 total admissions per year for the same period.
 
In 2020 and 2021, the average monthly admissions of the ITRMC for both its emergency and outpatient services was 480 and 476, respectively, reaching a bed occupancy rate of 135% just before the COVID-19 pandemic, a figure above the standard of 85%.

Improving service facility
 
The facilities form part of the upgrading of the hospital into an 800-bed facility as approved under Republic Act 11724 which was enacted in 2022, up from its previous capacity of 300.
 
The hospital shall be equipped with various specialty and subspecialty training and services programs, leading to the target 800-bed capacity prerequisite of a Level 3 General Hospital.
 
The facilities are expected to open in 2025, in line with the ITRMC’s vision of rapid expansion in terms of facilities and medical specialties.

ITRMC’s development plan
 
The project is one of the priority infrastructure investment projects of the ITRMC as part of its five-year development plan, with the hospital currently boosting a 600-bed capacity to cater to its patients, 85% of whom are poor and struggling to afford hospitalization costs.
 
The ITRMC’s five-year development plan is aligned with the Philippine Health Facility Development Plan (PHFDP) 2020-2040 which is in line with the country’s healthcare system vision under the Universal Health Care (UHC) Act.
 
ITRMC chief, Dr. Eduardo Badua III said that the construction of the facilities is the contribution of the hospital to the DOH’s 8-point agenda and shall serve as a symbol of hope, healing, and progress for those that it will serve.

“Our new hospital building will be a place where cutting-edge specialized and tertiary care and public health and primary care converge, creating an environment that fosters healing and recovery,” Badua III said.
 
Decades-long health service
 
The ITRMC has been serving the people of the Ilocos region and adjacent areas for close to 80 years, beginning in 1945 as a 40-bed medical facility operated by the United States Army.
 
Badua says that the facilities shall ensure that their health services will be able to cater to more patients in need of assistance, thanks to the collaboration the hospital has forged with government agencies and private stakeholders.
 
“We hope to build more shared success and a strengthened collaboration through time, and we will continue to illuminate the path as the Moonbeam of the North for Healthcare,” Badua said.
 
Expanding the facilities of the hospital also contributes to the National Economic and Development Authority’s (NEDA) Ambisyon Natin 2040, establishing a healthcare approach that is people-centered.
 
The ITRMC is also conducting various developmental processes in support of its expansion efforts, upgrading advanced medical equipment, hiring human resources for health (HRH), and designing an effective health system that can guarantee equitable access to affordable and quality healthcare services. (JCR/AMB/MJTAB/CCMT, PIA La Union)