CCMC seeks CH help on P1M worth of reagents

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) is running out of reagents which are needed to diagnose the patients’ illness.

CCMC Acting Chief Gloria Duterte sought the help of Mayor Michael Rama in her latter stating that the city-run hospital is running out of reagents which are used to help doctors diagnose the illness of patients.

A reagent is a substance or compound that is added to a system in order to bring about a chemical reaction or is added to see if a reaction occurs.

In her letter to Mayor Rama through City Administrator Jose Marie Poblete, Duterte requested that the amount of P1,227,898 be allocated for the purchase of various kinds of reagents that are badly needed by the hospital.

“We have been running out of reagents that we need to be able to run important tests and examinations,” Duterte said in her letter.

Poblete has assured that the request of the CCMC chief will be granted and the latter will just be asked to submit the lists of the chemicals that she wants to buy.

Records show that the 49-year-old hospital had served 130,533 patients in 2006, and the number increased to 134,090 in 2007. The figures of patients are increasing every year because many of the residents cannot afford to be confined in private hospitals.

CCMC’s budget in 2006 was P128.9 million and it was increased to P139.5 million in 2007. This year’s budget is P211 million, but former CCMC chief Eduardo Sedoripa proposed to increase the 2012 budget to P350 million.

As of yesterday, the members of the executive department are still deliberating on how much budget will be allocated to the CCMC for next year’s operations.

Rama earlier encouraged the hospital personnel to improve their character and attitude towards the patients.

When Cebu City South District Rep. Tomas R. Osmeña was still the mayor, he planned to sell the CCMC to any interested buyer because of its poor performance, but some of CCMC’s doctors said the lack of medicines were the main reason why their performance might not be good.

While this year’s budget for CCMC is P211 million, its budget for drugs and medicines is only P20 million, which is considered too small for patients that reach at least 150,000. (FREEMAN)