El Nido is 60 kilometers away from the nearest hospital

El Nido, Palawan is deemed one of the best vacation spots in the world, but the swarms of tourists who come to enjoy its beauty are at least 60 kilometers from the nearest hospital.

A tourist interviewed on Joseph Morong's report for "24 Oras" said she would not know where to go if she gets into an accident during her vacation.

"No, we don't, actually. That's why we're being really, really safe," Noreen Ali said.

According to the report, the closest hospital to El Nido is the Northern Palawan Provincial Hospital in Taytay, which is about 60 kilometers away from the tourist spot.

The next hospital is 70 kilometers away in the town of Roxas.  Another option would be a facility all the way in Puerto Princesa.

"Maraming foreigner na napi-patient po namin," chief of the Northern Palawan Provincial Hostpital, Dr. Ryan Clifford Estrada, said. "More on, sometimes trauma, motor vehicular accidents...We do some cardiovascular accident here, stroke, we cater... ischemic heart diseases, we do that, dehydration."

A provincial hospital only 30 minutes away from El Nido is being built in Barangay Pasadena.

However, the sign in front of the unfinished building said the project, which began March 8, 2017, was supposed to be completed by May 31, 2018.

As of the report, a person needing medical attention in El Nido can either be brought to the municipal health center or one of the two private clinics in town.

Municipal Administrator RJ Dela Calzada said the government's Rescue 165 is ready to respond to emergencies and give first aid, but they would still need to bring patients to a hospital.

Some resorts in El Nido are also able to call in air ambulances to bring patients to hospitals, but not without charge.

In 2017, as many as 1.4 million people visited Palawan, more than half of which were foreigners. —Margaret Claire Layug/LDF, GMA News