NEGROS Occidental Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Wednesday, October 24, that the hospitals under the Provincial Government are still lacking doctors.
Lacson said the Hospital Operations Division (HOD) is having problems convincing doctors to work for the district hospitals so it was suggested that they should come up with ideas how to recruit doctors to make it attractive to them to work in the district hospitals.
The vice governor said the shortage of government doctors was discovered on Wednesday during the public hearing on the proposed budget of the province for 2019 amounting to P4.01 billion.
"This is the same problem we had last year," Lacson said.
In the budget, there's an item for 15 doctors so we have to fill that up, Lacson said.
"If we can fill up, at least we could successfully come up with the ideal numbers of doctors. It will suffice the improvement of the services of our district hospitals,” he added.
He said that district hospitals in Hinoba-an, Sipalay City, Isabela, Kabankalan City and La Carlota City have been requesting for additional doctors.
Lacson, meanwhile, said that they intend to approve the 2019 annual budget middle of November after they met on Wednesday with the final group of departments for their respective budget hearings.