City to tap private support to fix morgue

DUE to the lack of funds, the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) tapped around 10 funeral parlors to help improve and renovate the hospital’s morgue.

With the government’s thrust in public-private partnership (PPP) in mind, CCMC Chief Dr. Gloria Duterte said they asked the funeral parlors to foot the bill for the renovation because the City doesn’t have funds for it.

The morgue needs to be improved in preparation for the Department of Health’s (DOH) reaccreditation of CCMC as a Level IV hospital. The reaccreditation of the CCMC is done every year.

The renovation is expected to cost P179,000, said Duterte. So CCMC will pass the DOH standards, the morgue needs an autopsy table and pathology office, among others.

“We don’t have those at the moment. We’re only using a bed as a makeshift autopsy table. We asked for their (funeral parlors’) help because we also don’t want to fail the accreditation,” the hospital chief explained.

“But we will not accept cash. I told them during our meeting to just take charge of the renovation because we don’t want to accept money from them,” Duterte added.

The funeral parlors being tapped for the project are those who pick up cadavers from the city hospital.

Duterte said the CCMC doesn’t have funds for the renovation of the morgue because their budget for 2012 was slashed. They earlier proposed a P426.6-million budget for this year but only P279 million was approved.

Last week, Duterte said she already had a meeting with the funeral parlors and they agreed to the City’s request.

The renovation of the morgue will be undertaken as a PPP, the concept adopted by the National Government for some of its infrastructure projects.

In an interview yesterday, Duterte assured that the management of CCMC did not force the funeral parlors to help them with the renovation of the morgue, amid reports that CCMC required them to shoulder the expenses for the project.

“We did not force them. We properly asked if they can help and they said yes,” she said.

This is not the first time that the hospital management sought the help of the private sector to improve the hospital.

CCMC’s burn unit and the hospital chapel were also renovated with the help of the private sector.