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 Prevention may refer to: Health and medicine * Preventive healthcare, measures to prevent diseases or injuries rather than curing them or treating their symptoms General safety * Crime prevention, the attempt to reduce deter crime and crim ...

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 a ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. 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 The term "edifice complex" was coined in the 1970s to describe Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos' practice of using publicly funded construction projects as political and election propaganda. Built with a Brutalist architectural style, perhap ...

," 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 A health department or health ministry is a part of government which focuses on issues related to the general health of the citizenry. Subnational entities, such as states, counties and cities, often also operate a health department of their ow ...

) 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 ...

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 pr ...

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 ...

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 An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concept often use that of ...

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 o ...

. 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 Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...

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