Sta. Barbara hospital rises to greater heights days ahead
More than 300 barangay residents around the area of the Sta. Barbara Sanitarium Hospital, soon to be named President Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Hospital and Research Institute for Tropical Medicine, have signed a written petition supporting the new hospital director, Dra. Annabelle De Guzman, chief of Sanitarium. In their signed petition, copy furnished the incumbent DOH Secretary Esperanza Cabral in Metro Manila, the barangay residents of Bolong and the component puroks of the barangay including some in the Sta. Barbara nearby poblacion wholeheartedly recognize and acknowledge the new chief of the sanitarium as hard-working approachable and Christian-hearted physician.
Dra. De Guzman was appointed in 2008 as the chief of the Sanitarium by former Health Secretary Francisco Duque and her appointment was affirmed by the present DOH Secretary Cabral. When Pres. Gloria M. Arroyo inaugurated the hospital a month ago, she praised the improvement and innovation started by Dra. De Guzman in the former exclusive hospital for leprosy patients and now a full-fledged hospital with all latest facilities comparable to modern hospitals in Iloilo City. As a matter of fact the Philippine Academy of Family Physicians of which Dra. De Guzman is a Fellow Life and Diplomate has made a powerful endorsement of the qualification of the lady doctor as having trained as Family Physician and Infectious Disease Specialist at the UP-PGH Medical Center.
Dra. De Guzman has a Master in Hospital Administration at UP Manila and has been trained in the US and London. She holds a Master in Medical Education and is a civil service eligible in tertiary positions. Annabelle is happily married to Dr. Christopher Rey de Guzman, an expert in the treatment of asthma and allergy and they have one son Christian, a proficient violinist. They have their clinic at the ground floor of Iloilo Mission Hospital in Jaro. She had been President of the Gideon Women Auxiliary of Iloilo City Camp and a reputable member of various socio-civic, medical and religious organizations. She graduated at UP-PGH Medical Center in Family Medicines and Infectious Diseases with highest honor and saw the first light of medical profession as a Family Physician.
A multi-awardee family physician, she topped the Diplomate Exam in 1990. Annabelle has an ear for music. She plays the electric organ and piano like a concert artist. Dra. De Guzman expects to perform her duties at the Sta. Barbara Western Visayas Sanitarium with full dedication to duty and helping the patients rich or poor irrespective of any political affiliation. She concluded the interview by saying, “With the help of God and the people of Sta. Barbara including the government officials, the hospital will rise to greater heights in the days to come.”
