City allocates only P8.7M for medicine at CCMC

CEBU - Concerns on whether the Cebu City Medical Center will still be able to serve well the city’s poor constituents next year or not are recently raised as the city only allocated P8.7 million for medicine out of the P146.2 million budget allocation for the whole year hospital operation.

“Gamay ra g’yod kaayo ang maong budget uy. Kon nakasaway ang mayor sa serbisyo sa Cebu City Medical Center karong tuiga, mao ra gihapon sa sunod tuig kay pareho ra man ang gihatag nila nga budget para sa tambal,” one of the doctors at CCMC said.

Records show that hospital chief Dr. Myrna R. Go prepared the programmed appropriation and obligation that was reviewed by budget officer Nelfa Briones and was approved by Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

The P8,750,000 allocation for the drugs and medicines for the 2009 hospital operation is the same amount that was allocated for the hospital this year that was described by the hospital officials as not enough to buy the needed medicines for the indigent patients.

In 2007, the hospital’s budget for drugs and medicines was only P7,976,095 but it was raised in 2008.

Of the total P146,321,233 budget allocated for CCMC next year, P105.5 million is allocated for the salaries and benefits of its 525 employees, while only P40.6 million is intended for the other expenses, including the purchase of drugs and medicines.

Osmeña’s hospital consultant Dr. Rodolfo Roman Bigornia earlier said that he strongly believed that CCMC’s performance will be more effective if the city would provide them with enough budget.

Bigornia also suggested that the city should provide budget for the purchase of medical equipment and for the improvement of the hospital, but his recommendation was not considered.

Budget officer Nelfa Briones said the city might allocate another budget for the CCMC, such as for the medical expenses, if it is found out to be necessary for its operations.

The city’s intended budget for next year is P2.6 billion, but a huge part of it will go to debt servicing.

With a limited budget for the drugs and medicines, many believed it would not be impossible that the previous complaints against lack of medicines and equipment will again happen next year.

Osmeña has already announced that he is considering selling the city-run hospital if the would-be buyer will agree that they also share for the termination pays of the affected employees.

Among those that had shown interest in buying the CCMC is the University of San Carlos, which intends to use the hospital for its nursing students. — Rene U. Borromeo/WAB (THE FREEMAN)