Town finally gets new doctor

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Mayor Ella Garcia Yulo of Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental said they now have a new Municipal Health Officer in the person of Dr. Lyle Love Louise P. Ladera.

Ladera, who hails from Cotabato City, chose to be assigned to the town through the Department of Health’s (DOH) Doctors to the Barrios (DTTB) program which was created in 1993 to deploy doctors to doctorless municipalities and work as Municipal Health Officers or Rural Health Physicians.

Garcia said that Ladera was deployed to the town in January.

Ladera told Daily Guardian that he was not affected by reports that Moises Padilla is a “dangerous town” to work in.

“It is not my concern at all, my mandate is to serve the people,” he said.

Ladera, 27, finished his medical school at the Western Visayas State University, spent his internship at the Bacolod Adventist Hospital in Bacolod City, and got his license in September 2019.

Rather than choosing to work in the urban areas and hospitals, Dr. Ladera said he graduated from a state university and he chose to “give back” what he has learned to the people in the countryside.

He also said that being a state university graduate, it was ingrained in them to give back to the community “because we were given the chance to go to school because of the people.”

Ladera said he is looking forward to going to the far-flung barangays in the locality and help the people with their medical needs.

“I look forward to going to the grassroots,” he said.

Garcia said that with the deployment of Ladera, there will be daily consultations at the MHO.

Ladera can also go to the barangays to cater to the health needs of the people.

Garcia also thanked the DOH for finally giving the town a doctor recalling that she has written the agency twice last year for the said concern.