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Wednesday, May 17, 2006
City Health wants hike in user's fee
By Lory Ann B. Bilbao
THE City Council is studying the proposal of the City Health Office (CHO) to increase its service fee, as it has remained stagnant for more or less 14 years.
Councilors Eduardo Peñaredondo, Perla Zulueta, Erwin Plagata together with the village officials in the city held a committee hearing Tuesday on the proposition of increasing the health service fee or user's fee.
Plagata said the CHO has pushed for the increase because their annual budget being allocated by the City Government is insufficient to sustain their quality services.
He said that while this is the circumstance that the CHO faces, the office led by its chief Dr. Urminico Baronda, has not presented the insufficiency of their annual budget.
The mayor is the chief of the local finance committee, which makes the City Government's annual budget allocations.
Plagata said that if presented to the mayor, it is unlikely that he would not increase the allocations for the CHO if the city's budget allows it.
He added that the CHO will not have ask for an increase in the user's fee for a relief from insufficiency in its budget if the city has enough fund to answer for the increase in the office's annual budget.
He explained that the CHO caters to the many residents of the city who were impoverished.
Some cannot even afford their fare to the city, he added.
If the user's fee would then be increased, the adversely affected are these people.
He said the CHO should be service oriented.
During the initial hearing, majority of the village officials said Plagata were amenable to the increase, but the hike should be minimal.
Plagata revealed that the CHO asked for individual increases in its services. Take for example the dental service fee of P5, the CHO asked for a 300 percent increase or hiking it to P30 excluding the anesthesia, for dental extraction.
He narrated that the City Council committees were critically studying the proposed increase considering that government health services should be service oriented.
Plagata said there are still series of hearings that will be done regarding the CHO's proposal and he himself is checking with the mayor the budget available for some more allocations like increase in the city department's annual budget.
(May 17, 2006 issue)
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