Doctors tell politicians to keep off their job

CEBU, Philippines - “We appeal to the politicians to leave us alone and leave the medical decisions to the medical doctors.”

This was stressed yesterday by Dr. Jol Sucalit, chairperson of the pediatric department of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

Sucalit, along with other doctors from the said department of the hospital, were guests the weekly 888 News Forum.

They said that they should not be blamed always when there are complaints about people dying.

According to Sucalit, they are the ones to make the decision as to what and when to conduct tests for the patients since they are capable of knowing the conditions of those seeking medical attention.

But she said that since the city had mandated that all of those with fever should undergo a CBC (Complete Blood Count), they have had a hard time doing so since they lack facilities and the personnel to do this.

Presently, the hospital only has nine resident doctors for the pediatric department, who work on different shifts. Sucalit said that there is only one medical technician assigned in the emergency room.

The doctors explained that they have been doing their jobs properly and it is not fair that they are blamed when something happens to patients.

This came after three consecutive deaths of children due to dengue were reported in the hospital recently.

Dr. Naomi Poca, former president of the Philippine Pediatric Society-Cebu Chapter, explained that there are a lot of factors that should be considered also in cases like the parents of the patients, the environment, facilities and the strain of the virus itself.

Poca said that the patient’s state of condition and immunity would matter and also how strong the virus is.

She said that when the patient is brought to the hospital, they check and recognize the signs of the patient but also need the help of the personnel as well as the information given by the parents.

Poca said that their initial findings and decisions as to what to do would also depend on the information given by the parents like the history of the child’s condition.

She also explained that if they decide to send the patient home, they also advice the parents to monitor closely the condition and symptoms and if they will encounter such, then they direct the parents to immediately bring the patients back to the hospital.

Dr. Sucalit also mentioned that they also lack a lot of facilities like BP apparatus, Ambubags, infusion pumps, pulse oximeters, ventilators and also encountered a problem with their CBC processing machine that broke down a week ago due to the large number of tests that they needed to do.

Sucalit also said that aside from the lack of doctors, they also do not have interns in their department that could help out since medical schools have pulled out their students two to three years ago saying that the hospital is not capable of teaching their students and there are not enough doctors to guide their students.

She explained that this has become a burden to them because they lack hands in addressing the needs of the patients.

Sucalit also said that these reasons are also why they could not supply the dengue fast lane that has been ordered by the city government.

“If politicians would just leave us alone and stop pointing their fingers to the doctors, then we would be better off,” said Sucalit.

Sucalit also added that they could not say that there is support from the city health because “first is, I have not seen them around the hospital.”

The doctors said that there is a need to mobilize the barangay health workers, who are under the city health office, as they are the first line of defense in the fight against dengue.

Sucalit also said that the warning of a mass leave earlier reported to be done by the doctors of the hospital was also held off.

Dengue cases since the month of April has increased, said Sucalit, stating in April there were 19 dengue cases, 12 in May, 56 in June and 61 dengue cases in the month of July.

Upon hearing the pronouncement of the doctors, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he is never leaving CCMC alone.

“Who are they to tell me to leave them alone? Of course I am not leaving them alone. I am receiving all the complaints. If they don’t like to work in the government, then they better go somewhere else,” Osmeña said.

He said politicians, unlike them (doctors), were voted by the people and are therefore accountable to answer to the concerns of the populace.

“Precisely why they are acting like that because I left them be. You want me to pour in billions on them, the answer is no. They complained about lack of support, they don’t know how to use the equipment,” he said.

The mayor mentioned that CCMC received 40 containers of medical equipment and it remained in the hospital’s warehouse even after two years.

SM City, he said, wanted to equip the pediatric ward but, after one year, the equipment were still unused.

CCMC has an appropriation of P139 million from the city’s annual budget excluding additional funds from supplemental budgets.

The mayor had already empowered the barangay health centers, hired additional doctors for the barangays and decongest CCMC’s load by not accepting non city residents. – AJ de la Torre and Ferliza C. Contratista/NLQ   (THE FREEMAN)