Leyte town gets new health facility

SAN MIGUEL, Leyte, March 12 -- A non-government organization turned over on Sunday a new health facility to help fight tuberculosis (TB) in this town.

The PHP3-million rehabilitated building has increased the size of TB Directly Observed Treatment short-course center 10 times the old 10-square meter room.

Mayor Cheeryl Enrica Esperas welcomed the project of ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation, Inc. saying the center will not only check patients with complaints of TB symptoms but will also serve as a conference room for village health workers and volunteers.

“This is a very big help to our town with very limited resources to improve the delivery of health services to poor families,” Esperas said.

The rural health unit serves 10 to 15 TB patients every day from the town’s 21 villages. The project is part of post-Yolanda recovery assistance in Leyte by the television network.

The project turnover is part of the San Miguel’s culmination activity of their 101st founding anniversary.

The anniversary highlighted major projects in the town such as PHP20 million worth of project under the anti-poverty Kapitbisig Laban sa Kahirapan-Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services by the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Another project is the ongoing construction of 2,000 permanent housing units by the National Housing Authority. The central government has approved the additional 1,000 housing units for the town.

San Miguel is a fourth class town in central Leyte with a population of more than 19,000. (LAAA/PNA)