A benefit run has been held today as part of a protest against a looming eviction of the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC) from their present location on Quezon Avenue in Quezon City. Organized by #SavePCMC Alliance, Samahan ng Kawani ng PCMC and Akap Bata sectoral organization; doctors, nurses, technical staff and patients ran for a 3 kilometer and 6 kilometer laps around the vicinity of the hospital in support of the call demanding a land grant to the hospital of its current spot.
The administrators of PCMC demand a written statement of Health Secretary Enrique Ona explicitly stating that the department will award PCMC the land on to which it is presently located.
It can be remembered that during the budget deliberations in the Congress, Ona responded to the question of Bayan Muna partylist representative Neri Colmenares regarding the former’s stand on the issue of PCMC on to which he said that the DOH no longer plans to relocate the PCMC to the compound of the Lung Center of the Philippines.
But Jara Corazon Ehera, Deputy Director of PCMC expressed her doubt on such pronouncements of Ona claiming that the DOH Secretary has flip-flopped on his stance regarding the PCMC eviction issue on several interviews and statements. Thus, the PCMC’s demand for a position paper of Ona.
#SavePCMC Alliance has launched several activities in the previous months to get the attention of concerned agencies and to rally massive support. PCMC is the largest and most affordable children-specialized hospital in the country.
– Manila Today
(Photo Courtesy of Kathy Yamzon)
