From a plantilla of 2,937 items in the DOH central office, it was trimmed down to 1,299. However, not a single employee was retrenched as affected personnel were redeployed to other units and service areas such as health centers and hospitals.
"There was a conscious effort to safeguard the right of each and every employee. A voluntary deployment program was put in place to encourage employees to transfer to offices of their choice," one health officer said.
Even the salaries of affected workers were not diminished, including a handful who were recommended to positions with lower rank due to failure to meet Civil Service Commission requirements and non-availability of items in offices where they can maintain their previous rank.
Before the reorganization was undertaken, consultation and orientation sessions were conducted as early as 1998 with the rank and file, middle and top level management. The approved placement list was circulated throughout the DOH compound and other facilities and provided to officials and heads of departments for wider dissemination.
The new staffing pattern ensures that platnilla positions are responsive to the post-devolution (Local Government Code of 1991) role of the DOH – policy development, standard setting, regulation and provision of technical assistance. Higher level positions under the new set-up serve as an incentive for technical experts and properly trained personnel to stay with the DOH.
Analysts said Executive Order 102, which set in motion the organizational changes at the department, could no longer be revoked as the DOH is already operating under the reorganized structure, with new appointments issued to more than 80 percent of the personnel.
They said new systems and protocols have been adopted and the department budget has been reformatted to reflect the new structure.
They pointed out that the corporate restructuring of selected DOH hospitals is being pursued under the Health Sector Reform Agenda to make more efficient their operation.
"The restructuring of these hospitals shall mean more fiscal autonomy and managerial flexibility and enhanced capability through facilities and human resource upgrading," they said.
Under the corporate restructuring, these hospitals will remain government-owned and the staff shall still be covered by Civil Service rules and regulations.
"Through these efforts, quality of medical care shall be improved without compromising the hospital’s social responsibility, particularly to the indigent patients," they stressed.