QC, UP officials meet to plot next steps for PGH Diliman
Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte and officials of the University of the Philippines recently met to discuss the next phase in the planned construction of UP Philippine General Hospital Diliman.
The meeting explored collaboration possibilities with the goal of ultimately giving more communities easier access to affordable quality healthcare.
"Tinalakay sa meeting ang mga plano at posibleng kolaborasyon upang maisulong ang proyektong magpapalawak ang access sa de-kalidad at abot-kayang serbisyong pangkalusugan para sa mas maraming Pilipino," the QC government said in a statement shared on social media.
At the meeting, UP was represented by UP Vice President for Development Daniel Peckley, Jr., UP-Philippine General Hospital Director Dr. Gerardo "Gap" D. Legaspi, and Assistant Vice President for Land Use Planning and Development Karen Ann Jago-on.
On the QC side accompanying Belmonte were QC Planning and Development Department OIC Dr. Jed Gomez, QC General Hospital Director Dr. Josephine Sabando, QC Health Department Head Dr. Ramona Abarquez, and QC Housing, Community Development and Resettlement Department OIC Atty. Jojo Conejero.
According to UP, plans for UP PGH Diliman were endorsed to UP's Investment Coordination Committee in 2022 for elevation to the National Economic and Development Authority Board. An approval from NEDA will open the project to bidding by private sector partners.
UP PGH, from its 10-hectare site in the UP Manila campus, is the country's largest government tertiary hospital. It caters to over 600,000 patients every year, with thousands of indigent Filipinos traveling to the hospital for affordable healthcare from all over the country.
The proposed UP PGH Diliman will sit on a 4.2-hectare area in the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City, with the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute nearby. According to the plans, the new public tertiary hospital will have 700 beds, with an aim to enhance the services of UP PGH in Manila.
In 2022, the plan was to have several buildings in the UP PGH Diliman site: the outpatient department, the main hospital, central podium and administration building, the College of Medicine and Research Laboratory, and a parking building.
The UP PGH Diliman construction will be a public-private partnership project.
