BATANG MAYNILA
Manila Mayor Isko Moreno
I am both happy and proud to announce that we in the city of Manila now have a new, high-tech CT scan machine that can identify, among many others, brain and lung conditions including COVID-related infections.
The better news is this: The residents of Manila can benefit from it for free.
On Wednesday last week, I, along with my indefatigable Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center (GABMMC) Director Dr. Ted Martin and GABMMC radiology and X-ray department head Dr. Roy Vizcarra, inaugurated our newly-purchased GE Revolution EVO 128 slices CT scan machine from Japan.
It is the city government’s gift for the poor residents who cannot afford the high cost of CT scans these days. I was told that the cost of a brain CT scan in private hospitals runs anywhere from P15,000 to P25,000.
Modesty aside, our new CT scan machine offers high resolution and the best in terms of quality and capability. Dr. Martin himself attests to this.
It can easily identify brain conditions like stroke, aneurysm, brain tumor, meningitis, encephalitis and even COVID-related brain infections. Too, it can also be useful for early detection of heart attacks and also liver cancer, stomach intestinal cancer and all kinds of lumps in the stomach, along with lung cancer, pulmonary embolism, COVID lung conditions and clear picture of COVID pneumonia (Ground Glass appearance).
Of late, it is lamentable to note that while Tondo 1 ranks second only to Sampaloc in terms of the number of COVID-19 cases, it outranked Sampaloc in the number of COVID deaths.
Hopefully, this new machine of ours can help alleviate the said situation affecting the Tondo residents.
The GABMMC where our new machine is placed and which Dr. Martin heads, is one of the six city-run hospitals. It primarily serves the residents of Manila from the first district of Tondo but also entertains referrals from our five other hospitals.
Speaking of our very own hospitals, we in the city of Manila are hiring more doctors, nurses and other health practitioners, in an effort to strengthen our healthcare system amid the recent surge of coronavirus cases in the country.
In the past weeks, I have so far signed the appointment papers of more than 70 newly-hired personnel comprising of doctors, nurses and medical technologists, among others. With them around, it is expected that we would be able to reinforce the current number of medical frontliners serving in the city and thus lessen the load of those presently deployed in the city-run hospitals.
Indeed, we are hiring and I have announced this over my live broadcasts in the hope of having worthy takers who are willing to serve the public.
We will not stop hiring to reinforce our medical institutions. There is no doubt that our hospital staff and health workers are overworked.
By getting additional staff, we aim to ease the workload of the health workers by adjusting the shifting, specially of our doctors. All of them are weary but none of them would want to give up and we just cannot stop serving the people and if only for that, I thank and commend all of them for their selfless dedication.
While the city government welcomes applicants, I also call on those intending to apply to make sure that they are willing to practice maximum tolerance toward the patients.
This early, I would want interested applicants to know that being in public service is full of challenges and difficulties. The public expects nothing less than a generous amount of patience and understanding from us.
We have to serve with a smile and there is no room for making faces, complaining or engaging the public in any argument. If we are tired, so are they. In fact, they are more tired and stressed emotionally, psychologically, physically and above all, economically. Otherwise, they will not be seeking help from public hospitals.
In government service, the benefits are good, plus the fact that one is given the rare opportunity of being able to serve the people. But it is certainly no walk in the park.
If you intend to work with us, you have to be sure that you have the right kind of heart for the job. You have to ask yourself: Are you ready to serve? Because the people expect and deserve better things from government.
Gaya ng paulit-ulit kong sinasabi, kailangan ko ang tulong ninyong lahat. Walang magmamalasakit sa Maynila kundi tayo ding mga Batang Maynila. Manila, God first!
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For updates on latest developments in the city of Manila, please visit my Facebook account – ‘Isko Moreno Domagoso.’