Mayor Isko to convert old OsMa into PLM health science facility
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso has committed to converting the old Ospital ng Maynila building into a new academic facility for the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) within two years.
Photo courtesy of the Manila Public Information Office
Speaking during a PLM Board of Regents meeting on Tuesday, August 19, Domagoso said the future PLM Academic Building for Health Sciences will help address the university’s growing need for space and expand its capacity to train more health professionals.
“We will continue producing more doctors. We will continue helping in nation-building,” the mayor said. “The growth of PLM in producing quality students will be stunted without enough space.”
The plan is a continuation of Domagoso’s earlier vision to modernize healthcare and education infrastructure in Manila.
It began with the construction of the new 10-storey Ospital ng Maynila which replaced the aging structure.
The old hospital building will be repurposed and retrofitted into a campus for PLM’s allied health programs.
According to Domagoso, the facility will include classrooms, laboratories, and technical equipment necessary for training future medical professionals.
“This is not just about the building, it’s about the school,” he emphasized. “We want to finish it in the next two years.”
He explained that earlier consultations only considered redesigning the existing structure, but later evaluations revealed the need for full retrofitting to meet academic and safety requirements.
“Redesign alone wasn’t enough. We need to retrofit the building to accommodate laboratories and the technical facilities our students need,” Domagoso said.
The mayor also expressed his gratitude to the PLM Board of Regents and the city’s technical team, whose ideas helped shape the project.
“For what has already been done, I thank the PLM Board of Regents and our former architects and engineers who shared their ideas and helped conceptualize this building,” he said.
The transformation of the old hospital into a modern academic building marks a key step in the city government’s push to invest in education and public health, while maximizing the use of existing infrastructure.