TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte (PNA) – A P200 million worth of building to house the Cancer Center for Mindanao will soon rise here as an additional service of the 200-bed capacity Davao Regional Hospital (DRH).

DRH chief of hospital Dr. Romulo Busuego said the groundbreaking of the cancer center was recently held along with the inauguration of the newly-completed neurological surgery and OB-Gyne building of the government hospital with Department of Health (DoH) Secretary Enrique Ona leading the occasion.

Busuego said the completion of the neuro-surgery and OB-gyne building and the construction of the cancer center building have marked another milestone in the 41-year history of the hospital.

DRH started as a small, poor provincial hospital in 1969, which now stands as a regional-level, 200-bed capacity hospital serving an increasing number of patients through its grown-up services and hospital facilities that are comparable to the best private hospital standard in this part of the country, he said.

In last year’s count alone, he said, DRH served over 87,000 patients primarily from its catchment area of Davao del Norte and secondarily from the radiation area of Compostela Valley and even from the far-flung provinces of Davao Oriental, Agusan, and Surigao.

He said that from a poorly servicing “hospital of the last resort,” DRH became a “hospital of results” when it boasts to have the sustained capacity of being a remaining kidney transplant hospital in Mindanao while the rest die out of operations.

DRH, most logistically beefed since 1988, has now other specialty services such as neuro-surgery, which is the first-time in Mindanao’s public hospitals, kidney surgery, and seven accredited residency programs while it ever aspires to become a center of wellness, mother-and baby-friendly hospital, and a premier center of health professional training, research and development.

With the groundbreaking, DRH is now seriously gunning to become a cancer treatment center in Mindanao.

Busuego disclosed that P100 million is needed for the building infrastructure while another P100 million is needed for the linear equipment needed to fight cancer disease.