The Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) ( fil, Ospital ng Pilipinas sa may sakit sa Baga) is a government tertiary hospital specializing in the

cure A cure is a substance or procedure that ends a medical condition, such as a medication, a surgical operation, a change in lifestyle or even a philosophical mindset that helps end a person's sufferings; or the state of being healed, or cured. The ...

and prevention of lung and other chest diseases, located on

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

, Quezon City, Philippines. The center receives budgetary support for its operations from the national government. It was constructed on public land donated by the National Housing Authority. The Lung Center has a hospital bed capacity of 210.

History

The LCP was established on January 16, 1981, by President

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

under ''Presidential Decree No. 1823'' as a non-profit non-stock corporation. The building is identified with what is referred to as the Marcoses' " edifice complex," defined by architect Gerard Lico as "an obsession and compulsion to build edifices as a hallmark of greatness." The Lung Center was placed under the administration of the Ministry of Health (now Department of Health) by President

Corazon Aquino Maria Corazon "Cory" Sumulong Cojuangco-Aquino (; ; January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009) was a Filipina politician who served as the 11th president of the Philippines from 1986 to 1992. She was the most prominent figure of the 1986 People P ...

on July 29, 1986, under '' Executive Order No. 34''. The purpose of its creation was to provide

health care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

that specifically targets

lung The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in humans and most other animals, including some snails and a small number of fish. In mammals and most other vertebrates, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of t ...

and pulmonary disease. A fire on May 16, 1998, destroyed much of the LCP's build and equipment. The fire, which started on 2:20 a.m., claimed 11 lives with nine more missing. Calixto Zaldivar, the director of the Lung Center of the Philippines, was indicted on October 19, 1999, for

criminal negligence In criminal law, criminal negligence is a surrogate state of mind required to constitute a ''conventional'' (as opposed to ''strictly liable'') offense. It is not, strictly speaking, a (Law Latin for "guilty mind") because it refers to an ob ...

. He was accused of ignoring advice from fire inspectors to install safety equipment at the Lung Center. The Lung Center of the Philippines was reopened on March 1, 1999, and a new LCP building partly funded by its fire insurance began construction. The Lung Center runs one of three monitoring stations run under an air quality monitoring project in Metro Manila.

References

External links

Official Website of the Lung Center of the Philippines
Hospitals in Quezon City Hospitals established in 1981 Government-owned and controlled corporations of the Philippines Buildings and structures in Quezon City Lung disease organizations {{Philippines-hospital-stub