Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso announced Tuesday that the city plans to convert the old Ospital ng Maynila building into an academic building for the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) medical school.

The project is expected to be completed in two years and would address the growing demand for space at the university, allowing it to produce more health professionals. Moreno, who spoke at a PLM Board of Regents meeting, said the plan fulfills a vision from his earlier term when the city built a new 10-story hospital to replace the aging facility.

“We will continue producing more doctors, we will continue helping in nation-building,” Domagoso said, adding that “the growth of PLM in production of quality students will be stunted in the absence of space.”

The city government will retrofit and redesign the old building to include classrooms, laboratories, and technical equipment for students. Moreno said initial consultations had suggested only a redesign, but later assessments showed that retrofitting was also necessary.