The Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH), a Department of Health (DOH)-managed hospital, has opened two new facilities aimed at expanding medical services and strengthening the region’s capacity to address infectious diseases.

The newly inaugurated facilities — the Center for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine and the Central Luzon Infectious Disease Referral Laboratory — are expected to enhance healthcare services in Central Luzon.

Governor Lilia “Nanay” Pineda and other officials of the Provincial Government of Pampanga attended the inauguration.

According to JBLMGH officials, the two facilities will significantly enhance the region’s capabilities in research, treatment, and management of various infectious diseases.

The Center for Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine will strengthen the hospital’s capacity for isolation, containment, and specialized clinical care through the provision of triage emergency room beds, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) beds, Adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds, isolation hemodialysis beds, an operating room bed, a delivery room bed, and isolation ward beds.

Meanwhile, the Central Luzon Infectious Disease Referral Laboratory will provide diagnostic and laboratory services for respiratory pathogens, vaccine-preventable diseases, dengue, leptospirosis, mpox, HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The project forms part of the continuing development of healthcare services in Central Luzon aimed at ensuring faster, more organized, and more effective responses to infectious diseases.

JBLMGH, located in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, is a major DOH tertiary government hospital and serves as a premier regional multi-specialty center providing healthcare services to residents of Central Luzon.