|
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Coop hospitals seen as alternative to public, private facilities
By Rimaliza Opiña
BAGUIO CITY -- In a country where quality health care is elusive, a group of doctors and professionals thought of establishing a cooperative hospital where quality health care and service are guaranteed at a minimal cost.
Sun.Star Network Online's Sinulog Festival Coverage
Post your Sinulog greetings
"There is no fear of rejection because of the lack of beds to accommodate a patient and the stigma of being called an indigent is erased," said Dr. Micaela Defiesta, a member of the Baguio City Cooperative Hospital (BCCH).
Members of the proposed cooperative hospital also have the right to dictate policies that the hospital would adopt, Defiesta added, assuring that the hospital even compensates both government and private hospitals that do not have enough equipment and personnel to attend to patients.
And like any cooperative, members are assured that apart from discounts, they get dividends from their contributions, said BCCH chair John Bugaling.
The BCCH plans to construct a 25-bed cooperative hospital in the next three or five years.
It would also be equipped with a laboratory and a pharmacy, which, at the moment is now up for construction when the raffle draw initiated by the group concludes this March.
The cooperative concept for a hospital started in the Philippines in 1991 by the Medical Mission Group (MMG) Hospital and Services Cooperative in Davao.
Alarmed over the inaccessibility of basic health services in some rural areas, the prohibitive cost of medicine and doctors fees, the plight of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, lack of government hospitals and insufficient government funds for medicine and hospital facilities, the MMG, in 1985, opened a four-bed lie-in hospital with second-hand equipment, donations and loan.
This later on expanded to 26 beds and opened in Tagum, Davao. That time, each family was made to pay P20. The premiums collected were used to subsidize the salary of the doctor who renders free consultation to its members.
By the time it was turned into a cooperative hospital in 1991, MMG was already classified as a tertiary hospital with a 60-bed capacity.
At present, the MMG has 50 chapters nationwide, operating 59 hospitals and diagnostic clinics. (Sun.Star Baguio/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star General Santos. (January 21, 2007 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Carbon monoxide eyed as cause of poisoning at ferry