Adiong’s bill upgrades Marawi’s Amai Pakpak Medical Center

ROCAYA SUMNDAD OTICAL

November 18, 2018

MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur: With the passing of Republic Act No. 11103 and signed into law by President Rodrigo Duterte, Amai Pakpak Medical Center finally will be upgraded from its current 200 to 400 bed capacity; the hiring of additional medical manpower; and construction of corresponding physical structures. 

The law states that enabling efforts “shall be implemented incrementally for a period of not more than two years from (its) approval.” 

The enabling bill was initiated in the lower Congress by Lanao del Sur (1st District) Rep. Ansaruddin “Hooky” Adiong, who once served as elected member the ARMM legislative assembly, regional vice governor and acting governor.Adiong, son of Lanao del Sur provincial governor Soraya Alonto Adiong and brother of vice governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong, Jr. and of Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong of ARMM’s regional legislative assembly, has on top of his priority programs of his office the providing of medical assistance to indigent patients of AMPC.

The APMC was established in 1903 by the United States Army’s Second Infantry Cavalry Division as a 25-bed capacity hospital on the 20-hectare area here known then as Camp Keithly. 

It evolved into Lanao General Hospital in 1984 with increased number of patients’ beds. It was later renamed after Amai Pakpak, a legendary Maranao warrior who led the armed resistance movements against foreign colonizers.

The health facility was transformed into 200-bed capacity Amai Pakpak Medical Center in 1995 under R.A. 7943, a law authored in the lower Congress by the late Congressman Mamintal Adiong Sr., father of the young Congressman Adiong.

On Oct. 16, 2013, large parts of the AMPC were gutted down by a fire of still unknown origin. The hospital resumed operations years later.

The APMC operations were interrupted anew during the May 23, 2017 bloody siege here of combined militants of Daesh-inspired Abu Sayyaf and Dawla Islamiya (Maute) groups.

Government forces wounded in the initial firefight were brought to the APMC for treatment, prompting the enemies to attack and control the hospital operations for several days. Some hospital workers were held hostage in the initial days of the ensuing six-month fighting.

Under the new law, the Department of Health will be mandated to oversee and supervise the improvements that will be made at APMC. 

(With story from Ali Macabalang/RSP)