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Thursday, July 27, 2006
Editorials: Capitol’s VSMMC vision
The Department of Health (DOH) proposal to let the Cebu Provincial Government handle the primary and secondary services of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) looks good on the surface.
Considering that the facilities of district hospitals still need upgrading and there is no provincial hospital to speak of, many patients from Cebu’s towns and component cities seek treatment in VSMMC every day.
DOH probably feels a better sense of responsibility and accountability will be had with Capitol directly answering the health needs of its constituents.
Which should translate to a kind of service that should be an improvement to the present one---even in, as Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said, “the area of simple courtesy.”
If only things were not as complicated, however.
Problem areas
Some VSMMC employees, for example, are worried about the transfer of management, which means that their status would be an irritant despite the governor’s statement about letting them go if they don’t want to be under a new setup.
Then there are the other areas that Capitol and DOH are fleshing out and which are critical to the “dream” of transforming VSMMC into an “economic enterprise”---the hospital’s operating budget in relation to Capitol’s finances, for example.
In this, the governor need not look far for models, although in a negative sense, considering that the Cebu City Government and the controversies hounding the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) were in the news in the previous months.
Worrisome reality
CCMC’s woes stem from the problems besetting local government units: politics and patronage, corruption, constant changes in leadership and shifts in priorities, etc.
Which means that while the feeling is upbeat about the ability of the current Capitol leadership to improve the way VSMMC is being run, the reality remains that the effect of any agreement signed by the governor could extend beyond her term of office.
Thus, even if Garcia does succeed in turning VSMMC around while she is governor, there is still the possibility her successor will mess things up and the CCMC experience is duplicated.
There is therefore a need for a deeper study of the proposal, especially on the matter of insulating VSMMC, a very important facility, from the ill effects of politics, patronage and corruption that may creep there under a new setup.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 27, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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