CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City's Department of Social Welfare and Services is planning to hire more than 600 job order employees next year with an allocated budget of P20 million for the implementation of its Long Life Medical Assistance program.
During the budget hearing yesterday, the DSWS said it is proposing a P411-million budget for next year, including that for the health program.
Long life medical assistance for operation head Peter Neil Visitacion said the city needs to hire over 600 job order workers to deliver daily the free maintenance medicines of those constituents suffering from hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis.
These job order employees would include family health workers, encoders, couriers, medicine checkers, and medicine evaluators, among others.
Visitacion said each worker will be given P100 per hour by the city government.
Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia questioned the planned hiring which would cost the city government over P20 million.
"Some of these jobs, I feel, can actually be done by the barangays. For example in Barangay Kamputhaw, we have 12 to 15 barangay health workers that are capable of doing the job. So, have you considered coordinating with the barangay? Because they may have the power to do the job," he said.
Visitacion then said the program has actually started in July when Mayor Tomas Osmeña assumed office and issued the executive order.
As of October 31, he said, the city has given free medicines to some 23,000 recipients already.
With this, the City Council asked for the list of the beneficiaries of the health program.
Garcia said the city government should not be spending on hiring employees when there are available employees who can do the job.
"So, please, I'm asking, you reconsider. Because you can work with the barangay captains. You can work with the barangay councilors, especially when it comes to delivery of free medicines," Garcia added.
Councilor Jocelyn Pesquera, for her part, questioned the capability of the job order employees in giving medicines when they are not in the field of medicine.
But Visitacion said the city is only focusing on illnesses like hypertension, diabetes and arthritis for now. He said job order employees will be asking the recipient of the free medicines if the latter has previous prescriptions from their doctors.
Pesquera further asked why the medicines would be given everyday when this can be done every 15 days or monthly so that few personnel would be needed.
According to Visitacion, this program of gi-ving free medicines is not actually new since the Department of Health has been also doing it. The DOH is doing it once a month, though.
City hospitalization assistance and medicines program head Amor Villanueva denied allegations that the office is denying the request of some residents who failed to get endorsements from Bando Osmeña-Pundok Kauswagan leaders.
She said the city has actually spent P56 million from January to September this year to cater to at least 7,462 patients.
For next year, she said CHAMP is proposing P80-million budget.
Meanwhile, City Health Department head Alma Corpin was questioned by the members of the council on alleged reports that some BHWs appointed by the city are taking over the health centers in the barangays.
Corpin said CHD has evaluated the performance of all the BHWs this year if they can still continue serving the barangay or not.
As of now, there are 564 BHWs. Of the number, Corpin said 305 have passed in their evaluation. With this, she said CHD has appointed 259 new volunteers, adding that some have started since March. (FREEMAN)