Pangasinan (18 October) -- The first Medical Herbal Garden in northern Luzon, if not in the entire country is now rising on a three-hectare lot in barangay Bonuan Binloc here.

Dr. Jesus Canto chief of the Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC), said the herbal garden is located in the long abandoned Teodora Manaois Hospital, a former extension hospital of R1MC, which was previously known as the Gov. Teofilo Sison Provincial Hospital (GTSPH).

The lot was once re-occupied when the main building of GTSPH on Arellano street was devastated by a 7.6 earthquake that rocked northern Luzon on July 16, 1990.

It was later again abandoned when the Department of Health rebuilt the damaged hospital and upgraded it into R1MC.

Canto said during the observance of the Civil Service Month in September, personnel of R1MC started to clean the whole area as part of their community activities.

He said the Bonuan lot would be planted with different medicinal plants to become a show-win-dow on herbal medicine throughout the country.

Various herbal plants can be raised in backyard gardens that are as effective as branded medicines sold in pharmacies and drug stores, he said.

R1MC also intends to build backyard piggery poultry and vegetable garden that will become a regular source of food to supplement the daily food of confined patients.