Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan along with House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Fifth District Congressman Irwin Tieng jointly led the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of Manila Cancer Center that will soon provide residents with free medical assistance.
The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Tuesday, June 25, inside the vicinity of Ospital ng Maynila.
Lacuna-Pangan thanked Romualdez and Tieng for supporting her administration's efforts to provide the widest range of free health services for those who cannot afford them.
She said the new center will help countless of residents stricken with the illness and cannot afford the high costs of treatment.
Tieng and Romualdez collaborated for the funding of the cancer center, which Romualdez said is in line with the programs of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
They said the cancer center will be the first in the city to provide much-needed services for those suffering from cancer at no cost to the patients.
Tieng cited the generosity of the mayor when she decided to allot 2,000 square meters for the said center, using a prime location within the Ospital ng Maynila grounds located near the corner of Roxas Boulevard and Quirino Avenue.
The center will be named after the late Gov. Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez, father of Speaker Romualdez.
The OM is one of six public hospitals being run by the city government and providing free medical services for the residents of Manila.
The planned five-storey center, according to the mayor, will have significant equipment needed by cancer patients like 38 beds, Spect Gamma Camera with treadmill machine and CT Scan, and a linear accelerator machine which will provide patients with non-invasive radiation therapy.