Laoag City Mayor Michael Marcos Keon has opposed the proposal to declare the Laoag City General Hospital (LCGH) bankrupt despite incurring an annual loss of P50 million.
Keon vowed to put the state-run hospital in order following a public hearing attended by hospital personnel and members of the city council on May 23.
“We are not declaring bankruptcy. We will do all ways to save the LCGH. Just give us time to recover,” the mayor said in a statement.
LCGH has been in the red for the past seven years, with a debt of P78 million when Keon assumed office as mayor in 2019. It currently has 94 permanent employees and almost 100 contract service personnel.
To pay off the hospital’s debts, Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos allotted P30 million from his allocation of Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP) to LCGH.
