IN a bid to keep the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), the City Council asked the hospital managers to come up with a master plan on how to improve their services and operations.
The council also asked the CCMC management to submit a report on how much it has earned from the services, how much it has spent and their net income, if any.
At the council session yesterday, Dr. Rodolfo Bigornia, the mayor’s consultant for the city hospital, defended the hospital staff from criticisms hurled against them, saying they have been able to operate the hospital even with very limited funds.
Management
Citing low mortality and patient transfer rate, Bigornia told the council that he would give the hospital management and personnel an excellent rating.
Bigornia, who has been assisting the CCMC for the last 23 years, said the hospital has been able to provide services to the poor even without allocation for capital outlay and only P40 million a year for medicines and supplies.
“No matter how good the managers are, if we don’t have capital outlay, there is no way we can revolve the funds to keep the hospital running. The reason I have not left CCMC is that I still have to take my hat off to these people. They practically have been running the hospital from nothing,” he told the council.
CCMC officials were invited to attend yesterday’s session so they can brief the council on the state of the hospital and the improvements they initiated.
The invitation came after Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that there are ongoing talks with the University of San Carlos on the possible purchase of the CCMC.
Mortality
The alleged inefficiency of the staff is among the mayor’s reasons why he wants to sell the facility.
“If you don’t have anything and you’re still able to operate a hospital with less than the 6.7 mortality rate, then that is excellent. Despite everything, we are still at par with private hospitals in terms of mortality and morbidity rate... I can still proudly say that I’m part of CCMC,” Bigornia said.
He pointed out that one of the biggest private hospitals in the city has a mortality rate of 4.5 percent, just slightly lower than CCMC’s 6.3 percent.
Even with an annual budget of only P140 million from City Hall, P98 million of which is spent for employees’ salaries, the hospital was able to serve at least 134,090 patients last year.
There were 1,804 major surgeries performed, 853 minor surgeries and 4,145 deliveries in 2007, according to their report.
“The problem here is that puro man gud ang mga daotan na lang ang makitan nila sa (all they see are just the negative things about) CCMC. On a day-to-day basis, daghan kaayog natabangan ang CCMC (has helped so many people). Ang nakabati pa gyud kay puro na mga karaan na reklamo ang balik-balikon nila. Wala na gyud moy nakitan na kaayohan na nabuhat namo (What’s so nasty is that most of the complaints are the old ones. Haven’t you seen anything good in we have done)?” Bigornia told reporters after his presentation.
Improvements
But if the mayor decides to sell CCMC, he said the health services for the poor should not be compromised.
On the issue of the sale of the hospital, Bigornia said they have not received any notice on the matter, and that there is nothing official about it.
Still, Vice Mayor Michael Rama said that improvements are needed and there should be a master plan to see the direction that the management intends to take.
“If we can abort a sale by coming up with a master plan, introduce drastic actions and have the political will to implement it, then maybe we can see improvements,” said Rama. (LCR)
