Thursday, September 04, 2008 Wenceslao: Why sell CCMC? By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I DON'T understand why Cebu City officials would talk about return of investment from the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) like earning profit is the motive of setting up the facility. The number of poor patients served and saved by the hospital should be enough for city officials to gloss over the P160 million spent annually for its upkeep.
When city officials grumble about the money spent for CCMC, the Cebuano term for that is pamuyboy. That would not have been objectionable if the appropriation is from their personal pockets. But it is sourced from the taxes of people. While these officials need to manage well the city’s finances, some spending are basic and badly needed.
I think the problem with City Hall officials is their elitist and capitalist mindset. They view CCMC as a commodity whose sale they can profit from. No wonder that despite the improvement the CCMC staff put in place the past few years, city officials immediately warmed up to the offer of the University of San Carlos to buy the hospital.
Consider the timing. There has been no controversy that broke out in CCMC the past months and it was obvious hospital administrators were doing their best to keep up with City Hall expectations. Thus, when USC made the offer, the previous ranting of Mayor Tomas Osmeña had lost its bite. Yet it was resurrected for propaganda reasons.
And the focus was only at the CCMC staff, the convenient scapegoat to convince the public of the sale. No study was presented, for example, on the number of patients treated by the facility annually. Data on the magnitude of the health service provided by CCMC to the poor is needed to objectively assess the value, or lack of it, of the hospital.
This data are also important considering that City Hall is offering alternatives like the issuance of Philhealth cards and depositing money in private hospitals for indigent patients and improving barangay health centers. Can these alternatives approximate the magnitude of services CCMC has been providing? Or are these but band-aid moves?
CCMC is an important service institution and has been part of the city’s landscape and history for decades. A good administrator does not dispose of it in a knee-jerk way and for such flimsy reason as failure to inculcate a better culture of service on the CCMC staff. CCMC’s disposal should be a result of a deeper study by experts and not because of the say so of a few persons even if they happen to be city officials.
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com)
