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Friday, February 24, 2006
Fact-finding committee probes Pototan Hospital
By Lory Ann B. Bilbao
THE investigating committee created by Iloilo Governor Niel D. Tupas Sr. led by Chief of Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) Mario Nillos, made its first ocular inspection on the government run- Iloilo Provincial Hospital in Pototan Thursday.
This came after some personnel of the said hospital aired several complaints against their chief, Noel Icamina.
Tupas formed the fact-finding committee through an Executive Order last Feb. 14, 2006.
The committee is made up of five Provincial Government department heads. They are Chiefs of Provincial Health Office (PHO); Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado, Provincial Legal Office (PLO); Atty. Ethel Dema-isip, HRMDO; Alma Ravena and in Accounting, Lyd Tupas.
Nillos and the said members of the committee went to Pototan Thursday.
Nillos in a radio interview Wednesday, said each member has his designated area for inspection as carried in the complaint.
Chief Accountant Tupas for example will focus on the financial aspect of the complaint such as the alleged misuse of properties, petty cash, supplies among others.
"Dr. Trabado of the PHO will deal with the operational and technical matters. Mrs. Ravena knows the staff in the hospital, so, she will take care of the personal matters," Nillos said.
"I will see to it that our processing of this case is according to the law," he added.
Complaints
Personnel of the hospital complained that their chief, Icamina, misused some properties, petty cash and supplies of the same hospital.
Some 24 medical specialists and officers asked Gov. Tupas to investigate over the alleged hospital crisis due to mismanagement.
In their letter Jan. 6, 2006, they complained of having limited stocks of medicines at the hospital's pharmacy "leaving most patients to buy medicines from a nearby drugstore."
They added, "The X-ray section always run out of x-ray films that patients on most cases have to buy their own films outside, thus depriving the hospital from earning extra income; the laboratory facilities offer limited number of laboratory examinations; lack of basic materials in the operating room such as sutures, xylocaine (anesthesia), nasogastric tubes and urinary catheters which have to be bought by the patients before they can be scheduled for an operation; in night shifts, a contractual or job hire nurse has to attend to up to 60 patients at a given time; the Pregio Van, described as an alternate ambulance, never spent even a night in the hospital premises; initial batch of PhilHealth cards that were given to the social worker supposedly to be distributed to the indigent patients were taken by the chief of hospital for reason we can only surmise; male doctors asked for "safe and comfortable" quarters following their transfer to another quarter which is cramped, unsafe and very uncomfortable."
It also enumerated, "There has been a "wrong prioritization in the purchase of materials and construction of infrastructure of the hospital. The laboratory, X-ray and pharmacy lack a lot of badly needed supplies supposedly because of lack of funds yet there is enough money to buy two chandeliers and a Pregio Van; the funds used for the renovation of some areas of the hospital was sourced from the petty cash; the hospital management used coco lumber in the construction of shelves at the emergency room which is "substandard."
Further, it added that a 'Coop Pharmacy for new employees cooperative was established without studying the legal implications of establishing a new one considering that there is already an existing multipurpose cooperative run also by hospital employees."
"All these can be traced to poor management and has resulted to poor service as well a very low morale among majority of the employees."
"This is not only for the employees but more importantly for the patients."
Icamina was earlier relieved from his post in 2003 following a probe over reports that hospital wastes were disposed on an open dumpsite in its six-hectare hospital compound.
In an interview, Icamina said he will wait for the results of the fact-finding committee.
(February 24, 2006 issue)
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