Rufus on City Hospital: “Mismanaged”

With doctors’ exodus, hospital is nearing paralysis, says Rep. Rodriguez

CITY Hall is to blame for the series of resignations of doctors at the city-run JR Borja General Hospital, Cagayan de Oro 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said.

“What happened now to the JR Borja hospital is that there is mismanagement, and our good medical professionals who have offered their services there can’t work effectively as they would want to because they lacked support from the City Government,” Rep. Rodriguez told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro in a phone interview.

Rep. Rodriguez authored the bill that would have increased funding for the dilapidated hospital by placing it under the better-equipped Northern Mindanao Medical Center.

Officials had earlier confirmed the resignations of at least 13 doctors, nearly half of the hospital’s regular resident physicians. Three more were set to leave late last week, a hospital insider told Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro.

If the situation worsens, the City Hall-operated hospital may be heading for paralysis, crippling its already deteriorating services as a result.
Already, the hospital has cut its consultation to cope up with personnel losses, reducing in effect the volume of patients that can be accommodated in a day.

Poor pay and poor working conditions are among the reasons cited by the doctors in tendering their resignations, said the Sun.Star source, who is also a physician.

What cemented the physicians’ decision to leave the hospital was when City Hall blocked Rodriguez’s bill, the source said.

The bill would have helped the hospital in terms of better facilities and higher compensation for the medical staff, the physician said.
Rodriguez said the resignations were a

“wake up call for our City Government. Had they not objected the bill, the salary grades of nurses and doctors would have increased dramatically because they would be paid by the National Government.

Under the salary grade in the national level, the lawmaker said nurses would receive P18,000 per month and P25,000 to P28,000 for doctors.
Rodriguez also clarified earlier reports that he already dropped the bill.

He said the proposed measure is now pending at the Senate health committee because Mayor Constantino Jaraula had earlier written the then committee chairman, Sen. Pia Cayetano, expressing City Hall’s objection to the bill.

“Medyo na-divide karon ang Senate because of Mayor Jaraula’s objection,” Rodriguez said. “But I already passed around 18 resolutions signed by 18 barangay officials who expressed their intention favoring the annexation of the City Hospital to the NMMC.

The bill being parochial in nature, he said some senators are hesitant to support it because of the local government’s opposition.

Rodriguez said the ball is now in the hands of the City Hall, saying the bill may be revived again if Jaraula reconsiders the administration’s position on the matter. by Annabelle L. Ricalde of Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro