NOW that Mayor Tomas Osmeña is ill, he should acknowledge the need for medical care. His physical condition should open his eyes to the importance of government taking care of the medical needs of the poor. He should rethink his plan to privatize the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

The mayor wants to sell CCMC because he is not satisfied with the performance of its medical staff and its management. He cited incidents of negligence that caused the death of some patients, including the driver of First Lady Margot Osmeña.

He mentioned the wife of a city councilor who had a bad experience with hospital personnel. Wa kuno pagamita og telephone ang asawa sa konsehal. Unya tungod ana pasirad-an na ang CCMC? Pagkatoytoy!

The mayor said that the City cannot increase the annual budget of CCMC or buy state-of-the-art medical equipment because of budgetary constraints. A big chunk of the CCMC budget goes to salaries and wages of the employees.

Again, almost all local government units want to have their own hospital. But Cebu City, which has been running CCMC since the time of Tomas’ father, Sergio Osmena Jr., plans to dispose it.

The mayor should study how other LGUs managed their hospitals. He should ask Zamboanga del Norte Gov. Rolando Yebes how he ranthe provincial hospital and acquired a new building and latest medical equipment for it. Mind you, my home province was the poorest province in the country based on the 2003 poverty incidence survey by Neda.

Once CCMC is sold, the mayor plans to tap the services of private hospitals. Patients who are city residents will be treated there with the City shouldering hospital bills up to certain amount.

But that could be very costly. Just imagine the room rate and physicians' professional fees of these private hospitals. Can patients stay in private hospitals for too long? I doubt.

With a CCMC, however, patients can be assured of minimal room rate with doctors not collecting professional fees. Their worry will only be to look for money to buy medicines, as there are no free medicines at the city hospital.

Good for the mayor because he is a multi-millionaire. He can afford to seek medical treatment abroad and hire the services of physicians who are experts in their fields. But what about the poor?

Tomas' sufferings have taught him a lesson to be humble. At least, now, he knows that there is God.

(bgnalzaro@gmanetwork.com/0918-2198333)

For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here.(November 12, 2008 issue)Write letter to the editor.Click here.