Sunday, October 22, 2006 Capitol-CCMC deal examined
THE aborted takeover of some services of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is giving the Cebu Provincial Government more time to focus its attention on Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s offer of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).
While the audit on the VSMMC will no longer push through, after the health department’s withdrawal of its offer, a similar Capitol review on the CCMC continues.
If in case the Province decides to accept Osmeña’s offer, the CCMC has to accept referrals of patients from district hospitals. Under the current set-up, patients from the province are referred to the VSMMC.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia disclosed that they plan to pursue a network of comprehensive medical facilities for the provincial constituents, where each of the facility will “complement each other.”
Aside from the CCMC, the Capitol is discussing plans to help the services of the Cebu Maternity Hospital, which is also serving patients from the towns.
The networking of medical facilities is also being pushed by the Department of Health (DOH) central office and, in Cebu, Garcia said it is the Provincial Government that is in the best position to establish it.
Mayor Osmeña, complaining about services of the CCMC, had offered the CCMC to the Province, saying that the Capitol is better in handling hospitals.
But Health Secretary Francisco Duque also offered the primary and secondary services of the VSMMC to the Capitol, which Garcia accepted.
The governor saw the proposed takeover as a means to improve the VSMMC, where her constituents seek medical help.
But just a few days ago, Health Assistant Secretary Nemesio Gako informed Garcia in a visit that the DOH executive committee junked the proposal.
The withdrawal of the offer dismayed the Provincial Government, which accused the DOH of having no political will.
Capitol consultant Pablo John Garcia also noted that the execom report was a “mirror image” of the position paper of VSMMC workers who objected to the proposal.
The Province is now starting to document complaints against “unpleasant practices” of doctors and other VSMMC personnel. (JPM)
