Rodriguez bill gets mix reactions

FORTY-eight-year-old Tony Labaon of Dansolihon village was rushed to the city-run J.R. Borja Memorial Hospital after experiencing chest pains three days ago.

After the initial examination in the emergency room, Labaon was admitted in the hospital. But with the ward full and with no other available room, Labaon was directed to a metal hospital bed in the lobby where two other patients, with the hustle and bustle of human traffic around them, are lying.

“Lisod magsakit kun wala’y kwarta. Si mayor (Jaraula) mihatag og P150 para sa tambal ug P60 gikan kang Congressman Uy. Dako gyud akong pasalamat kanila kay lisod gyud ko ‘run,” Labaon told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.

The nurses at the nearby nursing station said the five metal beds at the lobby were set up long ago and are regularly assigned to patients. But all these may change for the better if the bill authored by Congressman Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro City, 2nd District) becomes law.

House Bill 239 providing for “the upgrade and modernization of the J.R. Borja City Memorial Hospital as an extension hospital of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) in Cagayan de Oro and appropriating funds therefore” was passed and approved during the 14th Congress and is now pending for a 3rd and final public hearing in the Senate.

“This bill was already approved in the lower house and is now pending in the Senate’s committee on health. If this is passed into law, the national government through the DOH will be funding for the construction of additional buildings, the purchase of medical equipment and even the procurement of medicines,” Rodriguez told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.

Rodriguez said he is aware of the daunting financial requirements of the city-run hospital but knows that the facility has had to compete with other equally important programs of the city, its sole benefactor.

The Department of Health (DOH) has assessed the 100-bed hospital as a secondary level hospital. As of August 1, 2007, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) placed the city’s total population at 553,966. Meanwhile the city for 2008 allocated P32,699,647.00 for the maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE) of the hospital (in its 2009 executive budget proposal, City Hall appropriated an increase of P215,353 to the hospital’s MOOE). What this means is that at any one time, Cagayan de Oro only sets aside a total of P59.028 for any patient admitted to the city-run hospital.

The hospital is ran by a total of 204 personnel. This includes 29 doctors, 52 nurses and seven job-orders assigned as either in-house security guards or janitors. For its medical equipment the hospital employs an old x-ray machine and an ultrasound equipment.

The new “old” building, old because it was initially funded by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr.’s pork barrel in 1994, would increase the hospital’s capacity to 200 beds. But this portion has been under construction since then City Mayor Pablo Magtajas’ time and, until now, is yet to be finished.

German Doctors

In comparison, the Community Health Care Center (CHCC) located at the back of Xavier University, more popularly known as “German Doctors,” serves about 400 patients a day–roughly 80,000 each year.

CHCC has seven consultation rooms, a laboratory unit, x-ray facilities, electrocardiographic equipment, ultrasonographic machines, a pharmacy, a dental clinic, a reproductive health clinic with a minor operating room, a Tuberculosis DOTS clinic, an immunization office, an operating room with recovery room and 50 hospital beds for confinement.

City hospital employees amenable to bill

But most of the 29 doctors of the said the city-run hospital are amenable to the Rodriguez-sponsored bill saying that it will hasten improvement and development of the said hospital.

“Mas maayo man gud tong national government ang mag administer ug mag maintain kay menos politika. Biktima man gud ni sa pamolitika busa hinay kaayo ang paglambo,” one of the doctors, who requested anonymity, told this paper.

Rodriguez, in an interview with Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro, said all present employees of the hospital will be absorbed under the new administration of the DOH and their salaries and benefits will be shouldered by the national government.

But the bill explicitly states that in the full integration of the said hospital to the NMMC, “the Department of Health shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of this Act,” subsequently stripping the city government of its administrative function on the said hospital.

The bill, however, mandates the city government to continue in providing funding for the hospital until such time that the same is integrated as an extension hospital of NMMC and its funding will be included in the annual General Appropriations Act.

Retention of City’s control

But the Rodriguez bill has been meeting opposition from some quarters. City Councilor Dante Pajo, chair of committee on health and social services, told this paper recently that he was not in favor of the bill saying that the city would ultimately lose its control over the hospital.

“I do not favor the move (HB 239) because the city will lose control of the hospital. The city can manage the hospital ug mawala ang identity as city hospital,” Pajo said.

“If they really want to help, let them appropriate funds for the improvement of the hospital in terms of facilities and equipment,” Pajo added.

Although he was clear that he has in favor of the said bill, Councilor Ian Mark Nacaya told this paper that only under certain provision that the administrative function should remain in the hands of the city government.

“I am in favor of the bill because this will relieve the city of the financial burden. The city has been the sole fund source of the hospital. But the city should maintain administrative function so that it could have two sources of funds, the city and national government,” Nacaya said.

City knows best

But Rodriguez said that even though the city government will lose its control over the hospital it will still service the constituents of the city saying that what is important is the welfare of the people of city.

“If majority of the City Council will not agree with the bill, then I will move to withdraw the bill in spite of the advantages of the bill. I don’t want to be in conflict with the city because they know what’s best for the city. This bill has already been approved in the House of Representatives but I can still move for its withdrawal if the city government does not agree with the bill,” Rodriguez said.

For her part, Hospital Chief Dr. Dures Fe Tagayuna, in a texted message to this paper said: “J.R. Borja Hospital seeks avenues to enhance services and develop its full potentials as a government health facility even as it maintains its identity as the city hospital of Cagayan de Oro.” (COC)