The Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) in this capital city is offering more specialized surgeries as it aims for a Level 3 accreditation with the Department of Health (DOH), an official said Friday.

Dr. Liland Estacion, Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief, told the Philippine News Agency in an interview that the NOPH has come a long way since its construction in 1945, and now offers medical procedures such as craniotomy and spine surgery.

“We are constantly evolving into what and where we are now and despite being a Level 2 hospital, we are offering services and surgeries available at Level 3 facilities,” she added.

The provincial government marked the 80th anniversary of the NOPH on Thursday with a simple ceremony.

Estacion said many of the sub-specialty doctors in private hospitals are also practicing at the NOPH.

As part of the Level 3 accreditation, the NOPH is offering internal medicine internships and eyes a pediatric care internship by the end of this year, she added.

The pediatric Intensive Care Unit is also under construction and will be completed soon.

Shortly, the NOPH hopes to provide internship training for surgery and obstetrics-gynecology.

The NOPH is catering to 400 to 500 patients daily, over and beyond its accredited capacity of 250, “because we are not allowed to turn patients away”, Estacion said.

One of the perennial problems the NOPH is facing is the lack of rooms, with many cot-beds accommodating more patients in the hallways, she added. (PNA)