‘Tupad laway na’: Mayor Isko says City Hall to renovate Ospital ng Maynila

Manila Mayor Isko Moreno on Tuesday said the city government has started planning for the modernization of the city-run Ospital ng Manila (OsMa) Medical Center in Malate district.

He said the 50-year-old hospital will be renovated and redesigned as a fully air-conditioned, state-of-the-art medical facility by the bay.

The old Antonio Villegas building will be retained but converted to house the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila's College of Medicine.

”We really wanted to do this. Kailangan tupad laway na, dati kasi laway lang ang puhunan,” he told reporters in a press briefing during a school-based immunization program at the Ramon Magsaysay High School.

Apart from OsMa, at least 60 health centers in the capital city are also set for renovation, while the city government will also buy 6 new ambulances.

“I know the feeling na walang pera nanay mo, naglalabada, kinakapos dahil ang daming nagkakasakit. I was there and I know the feeling,” said Moreno, who as a boy made a living as a scavenger.

(I know the feeling that your mother has no money, just does laundry as her livelihood, couldn't make ends meet because many are getting sick. I was there and I know the feeling.)

He continued: “And that’s why our goal subliminally is the facility na mararamdaman man lang ng isang mahirap na tao na hanggang sa huling sandali, nakatikim man lang siya ng konting kaginhawaan sa buhay bago man lang pumikit ang kanyang mga mata.”

(And that's why our goal subliminally is to have a facility where someone poor will feel like even if he or she is poor, at the final moment of life, he or she felt comfort before closing his or her eyes for the last time.)

The mayor said he was willing to spend a big amount on health care.

“There’s no amount of enough money with regard to the value of life that we can save,” he said.