Rama promises to solve city hospital problems

CEBU, Philippines - Mayor-elect Michael Rama did not promise additional budget but assured to solve the problems hounding the 48-year- old Cebu City Medical Center which was once threatened to be closed by his predecessor, outgoing Mayor Tomas Osmeña.

Rama will officially assume office in the noon of June 30 and one of his important duties by then is the preparation of the annual budget of the city government for the next year since the law requires that the budget for the succeeding year shall be submitted for approval by the council not later than October 16.

But whether or not the current P139 million annual budget for the city hospital will be increased, remains a big question since the mayor-elect did not promise additional amount for the hospital.

Several doctors of the city-run hospital said that the P139 million annual budget is not enough because only P14 million of the overall amount goes to drugs and medicines because the bulk of the amount will be spent for the salaries and wages of the employees and other maintenance expenses.

Rama, who is opposed to the proposal of Osmeña to close or sell the CCMC, did not comment when asked if he will replace hospital director Myrna Go. The Freeman observed that Rama was hesitant to discuss the issue of the CCMC when asked yesterday.

 “Huwata lang kon moabut na ang akong panahon. Nagpakabana man gani ko sa CCMC nga dili pa ako ang mayor, gibisitahan ko man gani ang CCMC nga bise mayor pa ko, unsa pa kaha kon ako na ang mayor, huwat lang,” Rama said.

One of the reasons why the hospital lacks the needed personnel to attend to the patients’ need is because of the management’s failure to fill up all the plantilla positions.

The CCMC has a plantilla of more than 700 personnel but the City Hall only filled up a little over 500.

Some CCMC doctors are hoping that the mayor’s wife Margot Osmeña, who was elected No. 2 councilor in the south district, will assume the committee on health and hospital services.

Rama earlier took the challenge for him to supervise the operations of CCMC after the mayor considered closing the hospital because of poor performance.

Osmeña was not satisfied of the performance of the hospital director, who at one time, was chided by the Cebu City Council for failing to comply with the instruction of the mayor on how to handle dengue patients. – THE FREEMAN