City Hospital raises fees but exempts the poor

THE City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance increasing the service fees at the J. R. Borja General Hospital in Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City.

This, however, exempts indigent residents from paying the new service fees, according to Councilor Simeon Licayan, chair of the Committee on Ways and Means.

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Among the services whose fees and charges have been increased are room rates from P25 to P300/day; ECG for out patient department from P50 to P200 for class A/B, P75 for class C; urinalysis from P30 to P50 class A/B and P37.50 for class C; CBC – P20 to P70 for class A/B and P52.50 for class C.

Poor patients can avail of all these services for free, according to Licayan.

He said patients would be classified according to their capacity to pay the new rates.

To help determine the patient’s financial status, the hospital will deploy social workers who will interview the patients.

Class A and B patients are those who are financially capable on paying all the fees and rooms, while Class C patients are workers whose income is less than P5,000 a month.

Dr. Dures Fe Tagayuna, City Hospital chief, said the rates have to be increased because the prices for medicine and medical supplies have gone up. She said the hospital also needs refurbishments of its facilities.

Tagayuna said this is the first time that the fee was increased since the hospital began operations in 1964.

The City Government subsidized the medicines, facilities and salaries of the hospital staff. The hospital caters to the poorest of the poor in Cagayan de Oro.

“Wala man mi mahimo kun pausbawan ang balayronon, gani ok ra man sa ako kay gaatimanon man gyud nila ang pasyente (We cannot do anything if they decide to increase the fees. But the service here is okay and we are attended immediately),” said market vendor Lucia Medalla, 48, whose two-year-old daughter is admitted to the hospital for diarrhea.

“Gani mas maayo na lang dinhi kay dili man mi gabalibaran o pahulaton ba kaha una atimanon tungod kay wala pay bakante (It’s better here because they admit us unlike in other hospitals),” Medalla added.

Construction worker Felimon Bartolome, 51, who was admitted due to pneumonia, was not amused of the ordinance. He said it would be another financial burden to the poor.

“Dugang gyud ni nga pas-anonon sa mga pasyente nga lisod nang daan sa kinabuhi (This will be another burden to the poor),” he said.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro
By Abigail C. Malalis