The medical staff: Scapegoats of DOH and VSMMC?

I’m glad to read the report that Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) has finally granted the request of Mayor Tomas Osmeña to have that old building known to us as the Companies Maritime building along the old Port of Cebu be donated to the City of Cebu. I’m sure hizzoner has many ideas of what to do with this building and I dare say that his suggestion in using part of it as a museum is the step in the right direction.

In the past, I have always written that many Cebuanos have a lot of memories of the past, especially during World War II where our parents still have a lot of mementoes and even photographs that we just might lose through the years. Many of our parents have already gone, but whatever they used to own during the war years, may be of museum value, especially if their children may have problems on who should own these artifacts.

Almost every house in this Province has old photographs, old World War II weapons, old clothes and uniforms of grandparents. If this museum is done properly, it can become a major tourist destination. After all, Cebu was part of the Pacific Campaign and occupied by the Japanese Imperial Army. We should even have a statue of Col. James Cushing there to honor the man who ran Cebu during its darkest hour.

If you’re going to Tacloban City go and visit or stay in Hotel Alejandro. This is actually the old house of the Dr. Alejandro Montejo. His family built a hotel around their old maternal home, which is in the middle of the hotel complex. They turned the old home into Tacloban’s best World War II museum as tourists can see old photographs of the Leyte landing during the days when Tacloban became the temporary Capital of the Philippines. We should have a museum like the one in Hotel Alejandro. Since we have the Compania Maritima building, let’s put it there.

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It’s been two weeks since we wrote our last article on that very controversial incident inside the Operating Room at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) where allegedly the privacy rights of a gay patient was compromised. When this issue blew up in the public eye, people were shocked that this was happening to this government medical facility. I submit that I experienced the same sentiment, until we started finding out what really is the bottom line of this case.

Weeks later, after the initial shock has subsided, the truth is slowly emerging especially after that Congressional hearing where Hospital Medical Director Dr. Gerardo Aquino publicly admitted to rule lapses in the Operating Room. That they did not even have any implementing rules and guidelines governing the use of cellphones. Without those guidelines in place, no infraction has been committed by the medical staff!

Because of that public admission, we chastised Dr. Aquino for making that grievous error in suspending the medical staff, doctors and nurses for three months in violation of zero rules! As we said, if there are such rules in the OR then at least we would know what would be the various penalties for any offense, that should be clearly indicated. So once again why then did Dr. Aquino give a three-month suspension? How did he come to make this decision? Let me now pose a new question to Dr. Aquino: Has he made any effort to undo this grievous error suspending those innocent medical staff?

What about Department of Health (DOH) Dr. Susana Madarieta? Has she stopped Dr. Aquino from further investigating this case, because Dr. Aquino should also be investigated for the rule lapses he openly admitted before the Congressional Body? As we already said, the suspended medical staff have become scapegoats for the incompetence of the VSMMC and the DoH! So far, we didn’t get a single reply from either the DOH or VSMMC!

Last Friday, The FREEMAN came up with a report that Secretary of Health (DoH) Francisco Duque has noted the strict implementation of the Operating Room policy of the VSMMC after that rectal surgery incident. Dr. Duque was in Cebu to inaugurate the VSMMC Operating Room sub-critical area, ophta-ENT Ward and PCR Laboratory. Accordingly, these procedures were done to prevent a repeat of the controversial incident.

In my book, this is another public admission, this time by the Health Secretary, that there were no such rules and guidelines previous to the incident involving the rectal surgery. That he was happy that finally some kind of rules and guidelines has been set for the Operating Rooms testify to the fact that they really had no such rules in the past. So decency, fairness and justice dictate that the DOH and the VSMMC recall the suspension of the Medical Staff for they were never at fault. They should never be used as scapegoats to cover the inefficiency of the DOH and VSMMC.