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 [...]]]> 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

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 [...]]]> 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)

Former City Hospital Chief Dr. Vincent Tero disclosed that too much politics played at the city hall-run hospital pushes it into a “pitiful” state.

“The order of the day [...]]]> The facilities and services of the city government-run J.R. Borja General Hospital could have been improved if the equipment, drugs and medicines donated by other sources were accepted.

Former City Hospital Chief Dr. Vincent Tero disclosed that too much politics played at the city hall-run hospital pushes it into a “pitiful” state.

“The order of the day is not to accept any donation coming from the opposition bloc especially from Senator Aquilino Pimentel, Reps. Rolando Uy and Rufus Rodriguez,” he said.

Tero who also served as City Health Officer during the incumbency of Mayor Vicente Emano and then was later detailed to the Philippine National Red Cross –Mindanao Blood Bank when he accommodated some P2 million worth of medicines from Pimentel sometime in 1997.

He said during his stay with the city hospital, he accepted a donation of CT Scan from Pimentel, but he was allegedly ordered to reject the same and later transferred to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC).

“Naa unta’y CT scan ang city hospital. Dili na unta mobayad ug tag-tres mil ang mga pasyente sa dakbayan kung magpa-CT scan pero wala dawata,” he stressed.

Another CT scan coming from Rep. Uy was about to be delivered to the city hospital last year, but was again rejected by the present administration without any justifiable reason.

Tero said the present administration has made the city hospital into a “pitiful” state including it’s services to the public.

“Bisan gapas ug alcohol wala diha. Tambal pa kaha hinoon,” he added.

A reliable source said that according to the Dr. Tero operating equipment lamps and other equipment are no longer serviceable.

The hospital use fluorescent lamps as incubator for premature babies.

“Ang suga kahulogon. Gihiktan na lang. Mahadlok ang gi-operahan,” he said.

He said that turning-over the entire responsibility of the city hospital to the Department of Health (DOH) is the only solution to uplift the status of the city hospital.

Members of the opposition bloc is set to conduct an investigation on Tero’s disclosures.

Earlier, Dra. Fe Tagayuna, who was appointed by City Mayor Constantino Jaraula to head the city hospital but later resigned from office after she was reportedly detailed to one of the urban barangays.

Assistant Minority Floor Leader Roger Abaday said Tero’s pronouncement is a clear indication that the city hospital has been manage badly.

“Maulaw kita sa katawhan nga instead of improving it’s services to the public it has become an awkward health service provider. This should be corrected,” he said. by LITO RULONA Gold Star Daily News Mindanao

The unfinished three-storey hospital building for over a decade now. Photo by Jessica

Pro-administration Councilor Dante Pajo said [...]]]> A CITY official Monday brushed aside allegations that “politics” was behind the troubles besetting JR Borja General Hospital, even as he denied claims that City Hall has blocked donations made by political rivals to the city-run medical facility.

The unfinished three-storey hospital building for over a decade now. Photo by Jessica

Pro-administration Councilor Dante Pajo said City Hall was eager to receive the 10 dialysis machines earlier pledged by 1st district Rep. Rolando Uy, who belongs to the local political opposition. Councilor Pajo said the donation includes a building that will house the equipment.

“I’ve talked to the Mayor [Constantino Jaraula] and he said he’s okay with the donation,” said Pajo, chairman of the health committee.

Last year, Rep. Uy’s office lamented that City Hall had spurned a similar effort by the lawmaker, who chose to donate the hospital equipment instead to the nationally-run Northern Mindanao Medical Center. The donation was funded from the congressman’s pork barrel.

The city-run hospital is no stranger to being deprived with much-needed diagnostic apparatus and other life-saving equipment simply because these are offered by politicians who don’t play footsies with the incumbents.

Dr. Vincent Tiro, a retired chief of hospital at JR Borja, said the practice became common during the Emano administration.

The physician recalled that at one point during the first term of then Mayor Vicente Emano — now a vice mayor — the latter castigated him for receiving the P2 million worth of medicines from Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, a native of Cagayan de Oro. Starting out as allies, Sen. Pimentel has been Emano’s political nemesis for years now.

“I received it with all gratefulness as then the chief of the hospital as it would mean more service for the sick and needy. I never thought I would be chided for doing what is right,” Dr. Tiro said.

“Politics is very well entrenched at the hospital, from the appointment and removal of personnel, up to the distribution of medicines to barangays,” he said.

Not once did Emano castigate him for handing out medicines to barangay officials deemed outcast to the former mayor’s political circle.

“He [Emano] once told me to ‘Ikaw na lang mag-mayor’ when I reasoned with him on the equitable distribution of medicines,” Tiro said.

During his watch, Tiro said Pimentel also donated a CT scan, which he said was “very much needed” in any hospital to help diagnose various medical conditions. Poor patients, he added, need not go to private hospitals and spend P3,000 for a CT scan.

Tiro said the equipment went to the NMCC instead because Emano would not want it in the city-run hospital.

Weeks later, Tiro said he was fired as chief of the hospital and detailed to another department until he retired in early 2000.

The former JR Borja chief said the P10 million hospital building donated by Pimentel in late 90s suffered the same fate, as the Emano administration had refused to shell out money as counterpart. The building, he said, was left to deteriorate for over a decade now.

However, Pajo said the three-storey building may finally be completed within this year. The after Department of Health (DOH), he said, has offered to finish the project.

“DOH-10 (Northern Mindanao) has already started the bidding phase of the project last June 8. Of the six bidders who signified interest in undertaking the project, five bidders qualified,” the councilor said.

Another view ot the unfinished three-storey hospital building.

The city-run hospital has lately been rocked with controversies, heightened by resignations of several doctors late last month. The physicians–numbering 18 out of the hospital’s 35 doctors–complained of low pay and poor working conditions.

They also lamented the hospital’s inability to give adequate health services to poor patients because the facility lacks even the basic medical equipment.

The hospital management had earlier suspended its weekend consultations.

Pajo said the Saturday and Sunday consultations have been resumed since last week. He said City Hall is already hiring doctors to replace those who resigned. He also denied the resignations had crippling effect on the hospital’s services, describing the doctors’ exodus as a “minor setback.” By Cong B. Corrales Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro

It is unavoidable, therefore, that during breaks between lectures and workshops we [...]]]> WE are on the last day of a three-day training we are conducting for personnel of the Department of health, Center for Health Development of Northern Mindanao. This is the 3rd batch of similar trainings the Valleser Communications Consultancy is doing for that agency.

It is unavoidable, therefore, that during breaks between lectures and workshops we indulge in some idle talks. At one point, I opened the topic on the possibility of having our beleaguered city hospital to be “cooperative-ized.” This after news that majority of doctors  un the said hospital have left and gone to other hospitals, set up private practice or have immigrated to other countries.

The lack of physicians has forced the city hospital to stop taking care of outpatients on weekends. Trying to put reason to this insane situation, the city officials through the hospital administration, is practically telling city residents not to get sick on weekends or else thsy could not be served – as if we have control as to when to get sick.

Well, it is normal for doctors to move around and seek greener pasture. The critical lack of physicians at the city hospital, however, is a phenomenon unique to itself. What keeps doctors away from the city hospital is not the low pay; neither is it the very demanding character of being in a public health system.

Ask those who have been there and they will tell you the real reason. They are tired and nauseated by the way dirty politics has seeped into what should have been an apolitical system. Doctors are forced to play politics by trying to reason out to patients why their services degenerated so much.

Even if doctors are gods and can cure even with just cotton and Q-tips, this would not be possible at city hospital. One of the doctors who have left the hospital told “Table talk” that he left because he wanted to keep the dignity of the medical profession.

having a cooperative hospital is not a novel idea. Other smaller and bigger cities in the country have done it. Our city officials should not be ashamed to accept their inability to run and manage a hospital. it’s time they should seriously think of turning it over to a cooperative.

It’s gutter politics that’s flushing our city hospital down the gutters!

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Ventricular fibrillation is a situation of electrical chaos in the heart’s conduction system. It changes the normal contractions of cardiac muscular tissue. This causes the heart to stop pumping blood around the body properly. It causes circulatory arrest and death within minutes from hypoxic brain damage.

The Defibrillator is one machine that is imperative for a hospital or clinic to have. It’s so important, that even many public facilities, such as airplanes, are keeping them on hand, in case of emergencies. At present this only cost around 50 to 60 thousand pesos.

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This was the statement issued by opposition leaders Gusa Barangay chairperson Enrico Salcedo, Atty. Manuel Ravanera and [...]]]> Losing ownership and management over the J.R. Borja Memorial City Hospital as proposed under House Bill 239 would mean PaDayon Pilipino administration officers will lose one of their largest sources of “kickbacks” from overpriced hospital supplies, medicines and equipments.

This was the statement issued by opposition leaders Gusa Barangay chairperson Enrico Salcedo, Atty. Manuel Ravanera and Atty. Rogelio Bagabuyo in response to moves from PaDayon Pilipino public officers to hold on to the city hospital’s ownership and management.

Salcedo voiced suspicions that the local administration officers’ opposition to the transfer of ownership of the city hospital might have something to do with reports that the city hospital has already been mortgaged by PaDayon Pilipino titular head Vicente Emano when the latter was still mayor of the city.

“Kay kung dunay transfer of ownership, mahadlok sila nga mangawas ang mga documento nga basin gi-mortgage na kanang atong city hospital (For if there will be transfer of ownership, administration officers are afraid that there might surface documents showing that perhaps our city hospital has already been mortgaged),” he said.

He pointed out that Emano and PaDayon Pilipino city councilors even mortgaged the land property where the Gusa Eastbound Public Utility Jeepney Terminal sits which is covered by a conditional donation.

Ravanera said PaDayon Pilipino public officers do not want to relinquish the full management of the city hospital to the Department of Health (DOH) because it is one of the largest sources of “kickbacks” in the form of overpriced hospital supplies from powder soap to bond papers and medicines.

He pointed out to two containers filled with vouchers, invoices, logbook photocopies and delivery receipts that were kept by city hospital officers themselves who could no longer stand the graft practices of the PaDayon Pilipino public officers.

Such documents are now attached as part of the evidences for the filing of 32 counts of graft charges involving P18 million against former city hospital head Dr. Jerie Calingasan, Emano, division heads and the involved suppliers at the Office of the Ombudsman with city hospital staff standing in as complainants.

Among the numerous invoices were those for the purchase of eight kilos of Zoom Detergent Powder costing P11,500.00 or at P1,437.00 per kilo and another for the purchase of a Food Conveyor with 36 trays for P119,500.00.

“What kind of a detergent powder is this that costs P1,437.00 per kilo? And a food conveyor used to deliver food around the hospital at almost P120,00? Why not just buy a small elf truck?,” the lawyer said.

Ravanera said it is clear that once the management of the city hospital will be transferred to DOH, the PaDayon Pilipino administration officers would no longer be able to continue such practices.

Salcedo said the local administration PaDayon Pilipino does not want to give up the management of the city hospital because they want to use its medicines, supplies and even its doctors and nurses for their politics in next years 2010 Elections.

He said having control over how the city hospital is managed means also the power to snub any requests from the local opposition when they need volunteer doctors and medical staff for their own medical missions.

He cited the situation when PaDayon Pilipino party leader and City Mayor Constantino Jaraula issued an order prohibiting volunteer doctors from attending a medical mission sponsored by First District Cong. Rolando Uy.

Bagabuyo for his part pointed out several how the Commission on Audit (COA) has found numerous anomalies in the management of the city hospital based on its Annual Audit Reports (AARs).

In the 2007 COA-AAR, he pointed out two instances wherein COA found the City Government violating the law – the P15 million in medicines that were distributed without complete inventory documents and the receipt mess involving P4 million.

He also cited how in 2006, COA also found out over P26 million in medical, dental and other supplies were found by COA to have been erroneously accounted for by the Emano administration.

“Of course these are deliberate errors. The City Hospital needs new management which is why there is the need to support HB 239,” he said adding how COA should have immediately moved for the filing of charges against those responsible for these anomalies.

HB 239 provides 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.”

The bill would mean an allocation of around P127 million for the dilapidated 100-bed hospital which was assessed by the Department of Health as a mere secondary hospital as of August last year.

HB 239 is being pushed by First District Cong. Rolando Uy and Second District Cong. Rufus Rodriguez which has been approved during the 14th Congress and now pending for third and final hearing at the Senate.

But Cagayan de Oro city mayor Constantino Jaraula has certified urgent a proposed resolution vehemently opposing HB 239 for three reasons — lack of consultation, confiscatory and unconstitutional and that NMMC extension supervision to JR Borja Hospital will divest funds and deprive the city of ownership of the hospital.

Around 50 supporters of HB 239 from barangays Carmen, Patag, Gusa, Kauswagan, Lapasan and other areas in the city flocked to the City Council session hall yesterday to witness whether administration city councilors will oppose the abovementioned bill.

The PaDayon Pilipino city councilors softened their stand saying they support HB 239 but that they vehemently oppose converting the city hospital as an annex to NMMC whereby there will be transfer of ownership and management to DOH. (By Lizanilla J. Amarga)

On Hospital Supplies:

The City Hospital through Dr. Jerie Calingasan made “Emergency Purchases” which are not emergency in character. Among the hospital [...]]]> The pillage goes on and on and on. Not only were the irregularities found in the purchases of medicines and medical supplies, but also in spending for hospital supplies, equipment and apparatus. Consider the following:

On Hospital Supplies:

The City Hospital through Dr. Jerie Calingasan made “Emergency Purchases” which are not emergency in character. Among the hospital “purchases” was a repair of a Toyota Tamaraw FX and a Kia Besta Ambulance which costs P131, 200.00. The money for the “purchases” allegedly came from the pocket of Dr. Calingasan and the vouchers show that he was reimbursed of the amount he supposedly “advanced”.

There were also purchases of hospital supplies, among others, eight (8) kilos of detergent powder at a price of P11,500.00 or an outrageous amount of P1,437.50 per kilo. A detergent powder like Tide could only be purchased at P70.00 per kilo. Meaning, the said detergent powder was purchased 2,000% more than its ordinary price.

For the year 2006 and part of 2007, Dr. Calingasan was reimbursed the amount P855, 939.17 purportedly due to the “advances” he made to the hospital. Where did he get his money? It surely is a lot more than his salary for the entire year.

On Hospital Equipment and Apparatus:

From February 2006 to July 2007, the hospital purchased Medical Equipment and Apparatus at an overwhelming amount of P14,025,000.00. An X-ray machine was purchased at P6,500,000.00, the capabilities of which is so limited that in the market, it did not even command a price of P3,000,00.00.

The surgical table which is unbranded or the so-called universal type barely costing P400,000.00 was purchased at P1,240,000.00. The price is clearly tripled at the expense of the taxpayers’ money.

The hospital also purchased an Anesthesia Machine in the amount of P1,985,000.00 which had since been malfunctioning and did not perform the desired function as expected, thereby endangering the lives of the patients. Upon proper scrutiny, it would show that this anesthesia machine was also highly overpriced.

So many anomalous transactions were entered into by the hospital prejudicing the coffers of the city. All these transactions, however, are shown in the vouchers appended in the Affidavit-Complaints. Payments were made through the approving officers of the City Hall namely: City Administrator Criscelda Joson, City Treasurer Lino Daral, City Accountant Wilma Rugay, City Auditor Olivia Flores and the highest approving officer then, City Mayor Vicente Y. Emano.

One is inclined to ask, is the city hospital truly a gift to us people of Cagayan de Oro? Or is it a curse that condemns our health rather than promote it?

In the statue of the late Mayor Justiniano R. Borja, the last lines go:

“I have learned that the only immortality, the enduring and permanent things in a transient world, are truth, honor, decency and courage; And those who build their lives upon these intangibles of spirit, build upon foundations that can never be shaken by any force on earth.”

Truth, honor, decency and courage. I admire the few brave hospital employees who adhere to these “intangibles of spirit”. The corrupt leaders of the city and the hospital will one day realize that they are mortals and that their malevolent acts will forever remain in the memory of the living.

Thus, we pray in this Christmas season, a season of hope, that each one of us bestows gifts that will not be forever wasted… gifts of the intangibles of the spirit such as kindness to our fellow Cagayanons. Merry Christmas! BATIN’S BANTERS: By Atty. Manuel Ravanera