Today, I yield my space to our readers.
A grandfather called me yesterday to complain against an alleged anomaly that is supposedly happening in the Cebu City Medical Center. Edwin B. Veloso claimed that a couple of weeks ago, they brought his grandchild to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) for an anti-tetanus shot after the child accidentally punctured himself with a needle.
He claimed that they had to wait long before their child could be attended to by a medical worker, only to be told by the latter that the CCMC had run out of tetanus vaccine. However, the CCMC employee allegedly told them that he has his own personal stock which the child could have for P1,000+. Finding the price prohibitive, Veloso said they left the hospital and brought the child to their barangay health center where he finally got injected with a vaccine that they bought from a drug store for a little more than P100.
He wondered how many patients and their families had been victimized into buying overpriced medicines from CCMC employees and why the practice is allowed in the city-owned-and-run medical facility. He urged the city government to immadiately look into the anomalous practice.
I wanted to call the only CCMC official I know for comment but remembered that only days ago, he was spotted in London with his family. But I expect Dr. Peter Mancao, whose loss in the Cebu City Council race last year I consider to be the worst mistake the Cebu City north district electorate ever made, to look into Veloso’s claim upon his return. This should not be considered an endorsement since not only are the elections still two years away, we are not even sure if he would run again. But Peter is a good man and I am certain that he will do the right thing.
Another reader wrote to say his attention was drawn to my colum “Like Singaporean” weeks ago. Aristides Llanos Archie said he visited Singapore again after 10 years last September and what he saw floored him.
“No city was more breathtaking,” he gushed even as he moaned that the dream for Cebu City to be Singapore-like may not happen during his lifetime. Maybe later, he said, but only if “we are determined as a community” to make it happen.
“That determination will, of course, start with tons and tons of discipline which sadly we Cebuanos do not possess,” the senior citizen said, citing the traffic situation, “culture of tourism” and environmental consciouness as areas that should be addressed.
“We can dream, yes but I may just hie off to Singapore every two years to be, feel, and live LIKE SINGAPOREAN.”
My former Political Science professor, Joseph Baduel also wrote. He recalled that at the beginning of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term six years ago, his men in Cebu “proudly proclaimed their big build build build infrastructure projects like the Metro Cebu Expressway, the North and South Coastal Roads, the Metro train, the Rapid Bus Transit and skyways, among others. Six years after, NOT one was started, much less finished.”
Their record in Cebu is zero, Baduel said, adding that “all they did was to inaugurate the Mactan-Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 building and the new third bridge and skyway to Cordova, which we all know were not their projects.”
He said he is crossing his fingers that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., “after winning in Cebu by more than one million votes” would be “more concerned and responsive to Cebu’s needs.” We hope so, too.
Finally, from Clemence Maudet came a confirmation of how hot it is in Europe now. Vacationing in Greece, she said that she felt like “KFC chicken inside an oven.” Avoid getting fried by the sun, dearest Clem.