Friday, August 29, 2008 Tomas to sack all 500 hospital workers
IF any entity decides to buy the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), Mayor Tomas Osmeña wants all its regular and casual employees laid off.
While he admits there were some improvements in the hospital’s operations in the last few years, the mayor said he is not satisfied with how it is managed and with the services given to the constituents.
This is why he decided to put up the hospital for sale, and use the proceeds to build more heath centers in the city and improve existing birthing centers.
“We’ll just lay them off. They are the problem in that hospital. It’s very hard to do any reform at CCMC because they have a culture of thinking only of themselves,” he told a news conference yesterday.
One of the concerns the City Government will have to settle before the sale is finalized is the separation pay and benefits of the employees who will be laid off.
Based on initial computations, the separation pay of the employees will reach some P50 million, and the mayor wants the City and the interested buyer to split the cost.
At the CCMC, hospital officials and patients appealed to City Hall to ensure that the employees who will be displaced will get the benefits they are entitled to under the law, and that poor constituents will still have access to free medical services.
Dr. Myrna Go, the CCMC chief, said she will just wait for further instructions from the mayor, and that she will leave it to him to decide on the fate of the hospital personnel.
“We appeal for the workers to get their separation pay and benefits... Mao bitaw nagsige gyud ko ug remind sa tanan na magbantay gyud na dili masayop kay bisag usa ra ang masayop or magbi-nuang, (I keep reminding them to avoid mistakes, because even if only one makes a mistake) the entire organization will suffer,” Go told Sun.Star Cebu.
Osmeña said, though, that the sale will not happen “in the next few months” since talks with the University of San Carlos (USC) on the possible purchase of CCMC are still preliminary.
The USC has expressed an interest to take over the 47-year-old hospital, which has some 800 plantilla positions. Of the number, only around 500 are filled.
“I was told that they are interested, but discussions on this are very superficial. Before anything else, it’s nothing that can happen in a few months... If it’s going to happen, it’s going to be bid out,” he said.
In 2002, the mayor had also announced a plan to close the CCMC and to use its annual budget instead to acquire health insurance for the poor.
During their regular session last Wednesday, the City Council set a meeting with the CCMC officials and consultants to discuss activities and plans for the hospital.
Without mentioning the sale, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said the legislative department should also be apprised on the executive department’s plans for CCMC.
“We also have to be briefed on the plans of the executive and what direction they have for the hospital because we wouldn’t want to be embarrassed when we are asked about it and we don’t know anything,” he said.
Aside from USC, the mayor said that University of Cebu President Augusto Go is also interested in the 300-bed hospital, and said that he will listen to any proposal.
There is no estimated sale price yet, which will be determined by professional appraisers.
“We’ll have to appraise it and we have to be very transparent about this... Our intention is to look for another system where people will enjoy better services,” he said.
Once the hospital is sold, the City will enroll urban poor families for Philhealth insurance, which they will be able to use in private hospitals for medical services and consultations.
Go said that several improvements have already been introduced in the past few years, including the endoscopy unit, additional intensive care unit, isolation room at the pediatrics ward, a stroke unit and wellness clinic.
They also reduced by 30 percent the number of childbirths at the CCMC, and referred normal deliveries to the birthing centers in the barangays.
CCMC has an average daily census of 200 patients, while the out-patient department attends to up to 500 patients for consultations and medical services.
Go said they also cut by half the processing time for medical assistance for indigent patients of the hospital. (LCR)
