Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Hospital chief takes full responsibility of tracing funds, says no actual cash lost
EVEN if the audit on Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) operations was done outside his term, hospital medical chief Gerardo Aquino Jr. is taking the blame for the findings.
Aquino said “concrete actions” have been taken and that the Department of Health (DOH) Central Office has been apprised of the situation.
When Sun.Star Cebu went to see Aquino yesterday, he said a representative of DOH Assistant Secretary David Lozada Jr. was in town to look into the Commission on Audit (COA) report.
“I take full responsibility… I was trying to change the image of VSMMC when…pak! came the headline,” said Aquino of the report published yesterday.
First, Aquino corrected the notion that P100 million to graft, saying this was the “projected income” of the VSMMC. There was also no such thing as “losing to graft.”
The government hospital, however, was only able to deliver P66 million in 2006 or P5.5 million a month.
Aquino, though, said that since he assumed post last December, the VSMMC generated an average monthly income of P9 million. If this continues, Aquino is optimistic the hospital could earn P108 million by the yearend.
But the amount could go higher considering that for the first two weeks of July alone, VSMMC already earned P5 million.
Aquino attributed this to the corrections already initiated by the VSMMC after receiving the COA report in March.
Among this was an old practice for patients who don’t need confinement to have their laboratory tests performed outside the VSMMC, even if some of these could be done in the hospital.
To correct this, Aquino issued a memorandum for all laboratory tests to be done at the VSMMC to increase the hospital’s income.
Aquino said he has also formed a committee to conduct a full-scale investigation, as recommended by state auditors.
He also said it was unfair to compare the income of the VSMMC with that of the 50-bed Eversley Child Sanitarium and the 25-bed St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital. Eversley earned P8.6 million in 2006 while the latter earned P4.2 million.
Computing the figures as income per bed, COA said VSMMC should have earned more than P100 million in 2006.
“But VSMMC is more on delivery of social services. We are not solely concerned about income,” Aquino told Sun.Star Cebu yesterday.
He also said that 80 to 90 percent of the hospital’s patients are indigents.
“We fell short because of indigent patients, who are our social responsibility,” Aquino said.
Patients, he added, complained of being billed. But he said this was only a specification of services rendered. If the patient cannot pay, the patient will be referred to a social worker.
The same report also stated that there were unused equipment donated from Canada at the VSMMC.
Aquino admitted that there were some unutilized equipment, which came in 110-volt power. He said the hospital is planning on getting its own 110 line or an electrical upgrading, which is cheaper compared to buying a transformer for each equipment with a 110 voltage.
But Aquino said that majority of the equipment, like boilers and sterilizers, are being used.
Some, which were not used, will be used in the future, while others will be given to some district hospitals that need it.
As for the Nuclear Medical Equipment used for thyroid scan, Aquino said this did not have a software although the donor has been informed.
The COA report, however, was not all bad news.
In their favorable observations, state auditors commended Aquino for helping save at least P2 million in hospital improvements.
COA noted that Aquino was able to increase the bed capacity of VSMMC from 400 to 650 beds without cost by repairing unused beds.
He also created a holding area for patients to lessen congestion at the emergency room and erected the “Bahay Bantayan,” a place where a patient’s companions can sleep for the night for a minimal fee.
This was an improvement compared to the pre-”Bahay Bantayan” days where companions sleep on the ground outside the hospital. (JGA)
