We must say Goodbye… "We have fought long and hard to stay afloat, but 2 months from now we must say good-bye."
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 AT LEAST four doctors from the J.R. Borja Memorial City Hospital (JRBMCH) transferred to two municipal hospitals in Misamis Oriental, top official from the Provincial Health Office (PHO) said.
Dr. Ignacio Moreno, PHO chief, confirmed this on Sunday during the inauguration and turn-over ceremony of the P20-million Misamis Oriental Provincial Hospital-Balingasag.
The doctors were Dr. Juanita Notarte, former internal medicine head of J.R. Borja General Hospital (JRBMCH); Dr. Dina Factura, Dr. Tim Ibana, and one Dr. Adejado.
It was learned that Dr. Ann Perez, who is now the acting chief of hospital of Claveria District Hospital, was also from JRBMCH.
“Pero dugay na si Dr. Perez sa Claveria. Ang bag-o lang nadawat dire sa Balingasag mao sila si Dr. Notarte, Dr. Factura, Dr. Ibana and Dr. Adejado, pero dugay na gyud sila nag-apply,” Moreno told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.
Moreno, however, declined to give any more comment on the doctors’ reason to work at Misamis Oriental Provincial Hospital-Balingasag.
Mayor Constantino Jaraula had said the resignations of some 18 physicians recently can’t be blamed in the supposed low pay and poor working conditions at the secondary-grade hospital.
Jaraula said it was normal for practicing physicians to gain “experience” at government-run hospitals as a stepping stone for “promotion” or employment in municipal health care facilities.
Several of the doctors who spoke to Sun.Star on condition of anonymity said they left J.R. Borja General Hospital because of low pay, delayed salaries and poor working conditions. Some said the inadequate facilities at the hospital had impeded them from performing their jobs properly.
Cagayan de Oro second district Representative Rufus Rodriguez had called the resignations “principled.”
“The doctors were resigning not for greener pastures but as a protest, knowing that their services cannot be properly maximized because the hospital has no decent facility,” Rodriguez said.
“I believe our doctors had really wanted to serve the people; they were willing to render their services. I don’t believe it when they say that those who resigned are a bunch of selfish people who are demanding perks and such,” Rodriguez added. (Annabelle L. Ricalde)
HERE’S another one from the Inbox.
Dear Mr. Valleser,
 I have been an employee at the JR Borja Memorial City Hospital for the past nine years. Many of my co-employees would like to take exemption from your insinuations that our city hospital is not doing the services it is intended to do. Since the first day of my employment, I have been told that this is a hospital for the poor in line with the vision of Mayor Vicente Emano.
We have innovations as a response to the need of hospital care for our people. But maybe you do not know because I am sure you would go to a better hospital when sick. In fact, the city hospital is serving patients not only from the city but also from other municipalities.
You mentioned in your colum something that can be done to improve our services like closing down the out patient department. It is a good idea but you are already late. Mayor Emano has already done that. And also, we do not welcome the idea of a ‘‘cooperative hospital’’ as this will interrupt our years of service. We would also lose our pay.
Please be informed that we are happy with the hospital as it is.
A Concerned Employee
Dear Concerned Employee,
If you are really convinced on the vision of Mayor Dongkoy Emano on the hospital and that you are really concerned about the poor patients that you serve, the best way you can help the poor patients is to tell them to check out immediately and be confined elsewhere.
You have enough years with the city hospital. I guess it was Mayor Dongkoy who appointed you. You are indeed a grateful employee to the point that you still call him ‘‘mayor’’ and not vice mayor; he is inutile as a vice mayor, and he is the highest paid 15/30 local official in the whole country today. But this is another issue, an issue of competence of an elective office to his position.
Yes, you’re correct that an order was already issued by ‘‘Mayor’’ Emano to close the out-patient department, limit regular checkups and normal births to the health centers. Are you really convinced this is being done? Intention without the execution is ‘‘all sound and fury signifying nothing. Zero, nada, zilch!
I heard a news report from the radio supposedly about Councilor Dante Pajo saying that everybody is welcome to apply for work at the city hospital. How I wish the story was ‘‘everybody is welcome to be confined at the city hospital with its modern facilities and dedicated staff.’’
This brings two questions to mind: A) Did Councilor Pajo say that because there is no other good point of being employed at the city hospital except the pay? B) Are there more resignations from doctors and nurses that he is now calling for new applicants?
But I guess the letter of our ‘‘Concerned Employee’’ gives us the answer to the first question––anything can happen to the city hospital as long as the employees’ security of tenure and pay is protected. What a wonderful vision and working values our city officials are imparting to the city employees, indeed! Table Talk By JAY VALLESER Updated July 7, 2009
 Cagayan De Oro City — The city government will allocate an additional P5 million funding for the emergency purchase of drugs and medicines at the J.R. Borja Memorial City Hospital.
This was revealed by City Mayor Constantino G. Jaraula during Monday’s flagraising ceremony at City Hall even as he strongly pushed for the upgrading of the city-run hospital.
Aside from allocating more funds for drugs and medicines, Mayor Jaraula is also contemplating the appointment of a regular administrator and a laundry administrator at the City Hospital.
Mayor Jaraula said that the P5 million allocation is an addition to the current P27.8 million budget set aside by the city government intended for the hospital’s drugs and medicines.
It can be recalled that Mayor Jaraula recently lashed back at his critics who criticized the city government for its alleged abandonment and neglect on the basic needs of the J.R. Borja Memorial City Hospital.
In a press conference held last week at his office, Mayor Jaraula clarified that the city has allocated this year an amount of P91.347 million for the’respectable operation’ of the city-run hospital.
This amount is broken down as follows: P50.647 million for personal services which is basically intended for salaries, wages and allowances for doctors, dentists, nurses and other health personnel; P32.9 million for maintenance and other operating expenses (MOOE); P27.8 million for drugs and medicines and P5 million for other expenses.
In addition to local funds, Mayor Jaraula said the local government got a P62 million subsidy from the national government through the Department of Health (DOH) as part of the pledge of commitment by President Arroyo in August 2007.
Of the said amount, according to Mayor Jaraula, some P22 million is intended for the completion of the construction of the J.R. Borja Memorial City Hospital Annex Building Project, while the remaining P40 million will be used for the upgrading and expansion of the 22 barangay health centers all over the city. (City Information Office)
I AM one of the 18 (or possibly more) doctors who resigned from the JR Borja General Hospital last month. I am writing to express disgust on a news item aired over ABS-CBN last Monday (July 1, 2009), in which our own mayor, Constantino Jaraula, said the physicians who tendered their resignations did so because they have higher plans for their career.
 Cagayan de Oro City Hall Photo by: Mercy I recalled Mayor Tinnex saying “Kay gusto man sila muadto sa Amerika.”
This is a blatant lie that I and my colleagues in the profession cannot allow to perpetuate.
It may be good for the mayor and the general public to know that most of those who resigned had immediately taken positions in community-oriented health care services. Some of us are in small-staffed clinics that cater services to the poor with their low-priced medicines and consultation fees. Some had gone back to their private practice, as they find more peace of mind in the confines of their small, comfy clinics than suffer hell in the politically charged work environment that is our city hospital.
Also, we are sad that ABS-CBN did nothing to verify the mayor’s statement. We physicians may have limited knowledge on what constitutes a balanced news report, but this we know: A dubious claim or declaration should not be left unchallenged so as not to leave doubts in the public’s mind. The ABS-CBN report merely parroted the mayor’s statement. In fact, the report sounded too slanted to favor the mayor’s assertion.
We also decry the suggestion that our erstwhile employment at JR Borja General Hospital was aimed at gathering experience for improved employment prospects in the future. We were there because we love our profession. Some of us stuck there for years despite delayed salaries and poor working conditions. Some of us even had to shell out supplies from our private clinics
because the hospital miserably lacked almost everything that patients badly need.
To suggest that we were carving our stepping stones from the hospital is twice an insult for us. By saying that, isn’t the mayor admitting that the local government can’t pay decent salaries for its doctors to be so desperate as to employ the inexperienced ones? Is this not a tacit admission that the local government is making JR Borja General Hospital a training center for newcomers in the profession simply because it can’t afford to pay doctors who are well established in the medical community?
We are not leeches. We are humans who are dedicated to the job of saving people’s lives, whether in our private practice or in government service. Contrary to what is purveyed in the media by Mayor Jaraula, we are not the butterfly type who hops from one employment to another. Please stop stereotyping us in the medical profession as a bunch of greedy people itching to go out of the country and earn big. It may be prudent to check our backgrounds from the hospital management itself to establish our credentials.
Unfortunately, it is local officials like Mayor Jaraula who are driving us out of government service. There is too much politicking and corruption going on at the hospital. The hospital suffered greatly in the last administration; it is suffering more under the present one.
We commend The Gold Star Daily and other media entities for exposing the ills at the city-run
hospital. We hope for your unrelenting reportage on the issue would usher in the change we’ve been hoping for.
On behalf of the resigned physicians we remain,
Dr. R.D. (Resigned Doctor)
(PS. Please understand that I and my colleagues have decided to remain in the shadows, as we are aware how vindictive our current officials are.)
 MAYOR Constantino Jaraula on Tuesday vowed to fight so city hall could keep the JR Borja Memorial Hospital even as he called ‘‘malicious’’ moves to place the institution under the state-run Northern Min-danao Medical Center (NMMC).
Jaraula also called ‘‘ignorant’’ those who have criticized city hall over the way it has been running the JR Borja hospital in Carmen.
“No one should take the JR Borja hospital from Cagayan de Oro, and it will remain as the ‘city hospital,’” said Jaraula in response to reports that a congressman, obviously Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, has continued to work in making the local government-run institution under the Department of Health (DOH) through the NMMC. The mayor did not mention Rodriguez’s name.
“Kini taliwala sa uban nga ilang kawaton o kumpiskahon,’’ said Ja-raula, adding that the city hospital could received national government funds even if it is run by the local government.
Jaraula reacted to a criticism in connection with city hall’s P97-million supplemental budget.
Of this additional budget, only P6,300 was set aside for the city hospital, prompting Rodriguez to call it ‘‘scandalous.’’ Rodriguez also criticized city hall’s alleged lack of concern for the poor who need medical attention.
Jaraula said the supplemental budget was just an addition to the basic budget for the city hospital’s operations and supplies this year.
Without the P6,300-supplemental budget, the budget for the hospital includes personal services, P50.647 million; maintenance and other operating expenses, P32.900 million; drugs and medicines, P27.800 million; and other expenses, P5 million.
“This makes almost P100 million for the city hospital alone. We have a supplemental budget because we generated additional income not included in the annual budget. Is this scandalous? That can only come from ignorance on local governance,” said Jaraula. By LITO RULONA – Correspondent Gold Star Daily News
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Four city hospital docs now with PHO
A city hospital for the poor? Duhh!
Mayor Jaraula to set aside P5M for hospital’emergency’
City hall’s lies
Jaraula hits critics over JR Borja row: ‘Malicious and ignorant’
Oro mayor reports P200-M spent for medical, hospital services
Doctors quit Cagayan de Oro gov’t hospital
Former city hospital chief calls JR Borja hospital present status
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