Thursday, September 04, 2008 USC hires company to assess CCMC
CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has opened the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) to interested buyers for scrutiny even as the University of San Carlos (USC) hired a Manila-based appraisal firm to assess the value of the hospital.
The USC’s hiring of Asian Appraisal Company, Inc. came after city officials disclosed that there are informal talks with the USC, University of Cebu and the Chong Hua Hospital.
Yesterday, Mayor Tomas Osmeña’s said the sale will not be finalized until a new system for the delivery of medical services for the public will be in place.
Scrutiny
As the City looks for other ways to make the City’s services better, he said the USC can proceed with the inventory, and that “nothing and no one, not even the mayor, is exempted from scrutiny.”
In a letter addressed to City Administrator Francisco Fernandez, USC president Fr. Dionisio Miranda informed the City that they have already contracted the services of Asian Appraisal Company, Inc. to appraise CCMC.
In the letter, Miranda asked City Hall to provide the appraisal team with the hospital’s building plans, cost of renovation, lapsing schedule of all equipment, registration and receipts for all vehicles, financial statement for the past three years and the contract of nursing schools that CCMC is affiliated with.
Employees
Its personnel and staff will also be included in the inventory, Fernandez said.
The USC also asked CCMC Chief Myrna Go to cooperate with the appraisal team members, who now have an authorization letter from the university.
In his news conference yesterday, Osmeña said he is grateful to the Cebuanos who elected him mayor of the city five times and that he will not neglect those who will need hospital services.
“So please don’t think I’m going to screw it up... Before this sale is realized, we will show the people how the money will be spent and ask them what alternatives they want. I want people to know what I’m doing and what I’m planning to do,” he said.
“Now where will the poor people go to? I will see to it that they have something better to go to other than CCMC before we even sell it,” the mayor said.
Osmeña said he will even spend more than what the City is spending this year to operate the CCMC, which amounts to P160 million.
Alternative
“I’m not going to betray the people who supported me. Before any final decision is made, I’ll make sure the people understand what the alternative is. With P160 million, I think we can produce more than what is being given by CCMC,” he continued.
If the sale is finalized, the mayor is planning to set up three trauma centers and additional barangay health and birthing centers.
He said the City needs to upgrade its medical and hospital services because he does not see the CCMC being able to provide efficient and improved services to cope with the City’s growth.
Osmeña said the City could spend taxpayer’s money to expand the hospital but with the way the personnel are running the facility, he believes it will only be a waste of funds.
“We can increase the amount we spend but I just can’t see putting up a new hospital that will be run by the same people. If it operates effectively, then maybe we can just expand it... but if you spend another P500 million for expansion, what will we get in return?” the mayor said. (LCR)
