DAVAO CITY — Recognizing the sacrifices of Filipino war veterans and retired personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. visited on Tuesday the Renal Dialysis Center of the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) and donated P150 M for the procurement of a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine.
VMMC’s dialysis center caters to more than 200 patients composed of World War II veterans and retired military personnel and their dependents, providing service and medicines free of charge.
The center, manned by nine doctors and 27 nurses, is also eyeing an expansion to accommodate more hemodialysis patients.
It is also working to put up a kidney transplantation center in the next three to five years to provide better quality of life to its patients.
As to the President’s financial grant to the hospital, the Department of National Defense (DND) requested PhP150 million funding for the procurement of a 1.5-Tesla MRI machine for the VMMC after its sole MRI machine acquired in 2011 became unserviceable last year.
With the planned procurement of the high-resolution MRI machine, doctors at the VMMC could accurately diagnose critical cases.
The PhP150-million cheque turned over by the chief executive came from the President’s Social Fund.
Established in 1955 by virtue of United States Public Law No. 865, which provided US$9.4 million for the construction of the hospital, the VMMC provides quality hospitalization, medical care, and treatment to Filipino war veterans and retired AFP personnel.
It is a tertiary-level government hospital with a 766-bed capacity and 1,562 personnel.
Last year, VMMC served 8,977 in-patients and 234,699 outpatients.
The state medical facility is also active in medical education and recording 22 accredited fellowship and residency training
programs. It also partnered with medical schools, universities, colleges, and hospitals to provide training programs.
VMMC also conducts regular civic action and outreach programs such as medical services in nearby communities, completing five medical missions last year.
