NEGROS Occidental Provincial Consultant for Hospital Operations Mariano Antonio Cui III said the district hospitals in Calatrava town and Escalante City can only accept patients with minor cases due to lack of medicine and medical equipment.

Cui said the decision to turn over the Calatrava District Hospital (CDH) to the Municipality of Calatrava, and the Vicente Gustilo District Hospital (VGDH) to the City of Escalante is "to ensure that both will continue to operate and survive during this critical period"

"Once turned over, the LGUs can hire their own hospital staff, while nurses and other employees under the provincial government will be assigned to the remaining hospitals owned by the province," Cui said.

Cui said both district hospitals are being regarded as similar to sugarcane hauling stations (transloading) that when patients are brought there for serious and intensive care, they are immediately referred to either the Teresita Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City or the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital in Bacolod City.

"This is due to lack of medical equipment and medicine supplies from their pharmacies," Cui said.

The transfer of the operations of the CDH and the VGDH to the local governments of Calatrava and Escalante will ensure its maximum health services by allowing service providers to man laboratories, x-rays, CT scan, 2D echo and kidney dialysis, according to Cui.

"The public can then avail the full benefits of Philhealth as the hospital pharmacies will secure enough medical supplies. Our main goal is to make both 90 percent operational like any other hospitals," Cui added.

Cui last year already cited a 2019 report showing that the 11 hospitals owned by the Provincial Government of Negros Occidental, including CDH and VGDH, suffered about P520 million in losses in their operations, compelling the current administration to turn over the operations to the LGUs of Calatrava and Escalante to sustain services.

Based on the turnover agreement, both Calatrava and Escalante will receive 70 percent subsidy from the Provincial Government for hospital operations, and the remaining 30 percent will be paid by the two LGUs.

Cui, meanwhile, encouraged Toboso Mayor Richard Jaojoco to meet Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson and discuss about his queries on Facebook about the hospital.

"During the time of the late Governor Alfredo Marañon, not a single mayor from Love Negros ever complained with their patients being excluded from availing the benefits from these hospitals. Instead, San Carlos City built its own hospital that operates with the same level 2 hospitals," Cui said.