Thursday, July 26, 2007 VSMMC dorm operations, on top of P100M earlier seen from hospital audit By Karlon N. Rama Sun.Star Staff Reporter
OTHER than the estimated P100 million allegedly lost because of corruption at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in 2006, the hospital also lost P48 million more from the operation of its dormitory.
The Commission on Audit (COA) report signed by cluster director Jose Desamparado blamed the loss on the failure by the previous hospital administration to “enforce the terms and conditions” of its memorandum of agreement with the Southern Island Hospital School of Nursing Alumni Association Inc. (SIHSNAAI), which was represented by Reynaldo Nuñez.
The report also alleged that Nuñez was under-declaring the dormitory’s income.
The facility – which serves out-of-town nursing students here either for review or on educational tour – is part of the hospital’s assets. Until the audit period, it was run by the alumni association, based on the July 2002 memorandum of agreement.
Under the agreement, the association runs the dormitory but VSMMC gets to keep sixty percent of the dormitory’s net income.
The agreement expired in 2005 and was never renewed. The previous hospital administration, however, reportedly did not immediately assume control.
Based on a separate March 12, 2007 report prepared by Ronnie Cuenco, Jesus Villanueva and Alvin Decena of the health department’s Manila-based Internal Audit Staff, the VSMMC was only able to resume control over the dormitory when Dr. Gerardo Aquino took over as Hospital Chief in December 2006.
According to COA, the hospital was supposed to earn over P48 million from the dormitory in 2006. The amount was computed according to the input given by one of its clients, the Cagayan de Oro College.
The hospital deserved to get the entire amount because at 2006, the management contract between the hospital and the association had expired. And since the agreement wasn’t renewed, the alumni association had no basis to retain its 40 percent share.
But based on the hospital’s records, VSMMC only got P488,230.64 from the association for 2006.
“This amount may just be the tip of the iceberg though. The amount is for 2006 only and excluded income from 2002 to 2005,” the COA report read.
The Office of the Ombudsman-Visayas is launching a fact-finding investigation on the issues raised.
“We will write COA and ask for a copy of the report and find out from them if there are enough bases for a formal complaint. If the findings are already final, they will endorse it to us anyway, accompanied by the affidavit of the investigators,” Ombudsman Director Virginia Palanca-Santiago said yesterday.
Desamparado’s report, addressed to Aquino, recommended that an investigation be launched and, if necessary, to obtain assistance from the anti-graft office.
VSMMC spokesperson Nonoy Mongaya, in a separate interview, said an internal investigation has already been launched. The investigation will cover not only the reported P100 million loss but also the money lost from the operation of the dormitory, he said.
The P100 million was allegedly lost because of the practice of some hospital employees to refer patients to privately owned diagnostic clinics for services that the hospital laboratory can provide at a socialized cost and alleged procurement anomalies,
Mongaya said Dr. Aquino ordered the investigation but did not disclose details, saying it might prejudice the outcome of the probe and the rights of the personalities being investigated.
Based on information given by the former hospital chief, Dr. Filomena de los Santos, a criminal case has already been filed against the association president after three demand letters were given, to no avail.
Based on the COA report, the alumni association took over the management of the dormitory in July 2002.
The management agreement provided that the association renovate the dormitory using its share of the income, draw up policies and guidelines to rationalize its operation, and hire employees needed to run the facility.
The agreement also authorized the hospital to do audits and evaluation to “protect the interests of the institution n particular and the hospital in general.”
But, according to COA, their inspection showed no renovation was ever conducted and no policies and guidelines were drawn. Moreover, the dormitory only has one employee – a part-time utility worker.
Instead, association president Nuñez ran the dormitory by himself and extended functions that involved the receipt and disbursement of funds and records-keeping.
During the audit investigation, Nuñez was allegedly only able to present records covering 2006 and covering only one transaction – Cagayan de Oro College.
Other transactions cannot be traced because Nuñez allegedly did not issue receipts. He said the clients didn’t ask for any.
In an interview with COA auditors, he said he charges P1,000 per head per day in accommodations, an additional P110 for meals and P79 for room air-conditioning.
There were other charges – laundry, por-terage and tour fare – which he said were remitted to contracted third parties.
The auditors verified the information with the clinical instructor from Holy Name University, who said students were charged P5,600 for the use of the dormitory. The money was collected by the school’s administration.
Additional information obtained established that there were other clients – six batches of nursing students from the Holy Name University totaling 300 students, and over 200 students from the Remedios Trinidad Romualdez Medical Foundation.
“At the time he voluntarily talked to the auditor, he did not, even for once, dispute the computation made by the auditor as to the rate per day per student based on the payments made by Cagayan de Oro College,” the report said.
