TUGUEGARAO CITY, Philippines- Before having a provincial hospital in Cagayan, a massive reorganization of the current setup must first be done, Provincial Health Office (PHO) chief said.
PHO Head Doctor Carlos Cortina told the provincial board on Monday, January 15, they will scrap and build some items in manpower to effect the reorganization.
Cagayan is the only province in the region that has no provincial hospital, Cortina said.
Cortina informed the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that getting doctors is “more important and the hardest thing” in forming a provincial hospital.
“Doctors need to be departmentalized meaning, every day, there is one from surgery, one from OB, one from pedia, and one from internal medicine,” he explained.
When asked by Board Member Olive Pascual on a possible timetable, Cortina said it will take long for the province to establish a provincial hospital, saying that the PHO is only “1/4” ready in terms of the doctors requirement.
“I believe the mechanism for its implementation is solved by the reorganization and the equipment will be solved by the [public-private partnership],” Cortina said.
Cagayan once had a provincial hospital in the area of what is now Primark mall, this city. Aparri District Hospital was also formerly a provincial hospital.
Meanwhile, Cagayan Provincial Information Officer Rogelio Sending told Forum that Governor Manuel Mamba plans to reclaim the Primark lot and turn it into a provincial hospital. A case has already been filed in Manila to nullify Primark’s contract.
Hospital Manpower
Cortina said only few medical practitioners are applying for the provincial government.
Currently, all district hospitals except for Aparri operate with one doctor on duty per day, Cortina revealed.
Matilde Olivas district hospital in Camalaniugan town, eyed as a possible provincial hospital, has a ratio of one nurse for 12 beds. Cortina said a provincial hospital needs to have at least 75-bed capacity.
The PHO chief said hiring is still ongoing despite lack of applications for positions for radiology technician, medical technician, social workers, nurses, and pharmacists.
Recruitment for nurses is ongoing to augment manpower in the level-one Aparri hospital, which has been downgraded from a 50-bed capacity to 30-bed capacity.
Cortina also said the hiring will also help Gattaran, Alcala, and Santa Ana hospitals, currently operating for only 12 hours, to revert operations to 24/7.
To address this issue, Cortina said the current administration is pushing to raise daily rates of medical practitioners with the lowest rate at P500.
However, the board said they earlier approved in the 2017 budget ordinance equalizing rates between job order nurses and permanent nurses. Northernforum.net
