Wednesday, October 31, 2007 'Hungry' hospital workers stage picket By Gil Alfredo B. Severino
HEALTH workers of Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod City staged a picket at lunch break Tuesday and aired their grievances over the hospital’s failure to release their benefits and monthly salaries.
The workers deplored the inability of the Department of the Health’s (DOH) management team to explain the real financial status of the hospital.
The workers’ spokesman Wilhelm Dueño said the hospital is facing right now a P17 million deficit and the management team headed by Dr. Epifania Simbul failed to explain how the deficit was incurred.
"We cannot take this anymore, our hazard and longevity pays are suffering. We have reasons to believe that money is used to pay the suppliers who were contracted by Dr. Vega," Dueño said, adding, "Our 12 month’s food allowance at P400 per month was not given, too. Then our medical share and our cooperative funds were juggled so we cannot avail of school loans this opening of the second semester."
"All these benefits are mandated by law and could have paid some of the debts we have," Dueño said.
Dueño added, "Patients are blaming us for poor services but we would like them to understand the burden and demoralization hospital workers are suffering just because of mismanagement."
"For the last six months, each hospital worker is expecting an average of P20,000 in hazard and longevity pay. We waited for these but DOH never had any word that it was Dr. Domingo Vega who caused these all," he further added.
"What they did was to send team after team using words like assessment, evaluation and audit all the time. Where are the results? Or this is simply a ploy of DOH to cover up something?" he asked.
Meanwhile, in an interview, Simbul explained that benefits like the hazard and longevity pay are taken from the hospital savings.
She explained, "The reason why the hospital is in such a condition is because of overcapacity. What was a 450-bed capacity sometimes goes up to 600 especially during rainy season."
Simbul, however, was silent about the P17 million deficit as claimed by Dueño, the corruption cases involving over supply of oxygen tanks, the P300,000 worth of stretchers which were transacted and caused by the former chief of hospital.
Simbul neither denied nor accepted what then acting chief of hospital Dr. Jaime Bernadas claimed that he had prepared a financial rehabilitation plan for the hospital.
"I am presently in the process of discovering everything and this needs time. I cannot speak with much authority on the corruption cases because it is now with the legal department of DOH," she added.
