SECOND READING
THE Cebu Provincial Board (PB) yesterday approved on second reading the proposed P4.5-billion budget for 2018.
But not without much deliberation on why the Provincial Health Office (PHO) included a budget for the training in Metro Manila of health practitioners working in province-owned hospitals.
“It looks so funny to know that our anesthesiologists are being trained by doctors in Region 1. This was brought up during the budget hearing in the previous days. Why not train here in Cebu instead?” asked Provincial Board Member Celestino Martinez III, chairperson of the committee on budget and appropriations.
To resolve the matter momentarily, PB presiding officer Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale moved to invite the regional director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) Dr. Jaime Bernadas and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino during the PB caucus on Monday in order to shed light.
Provincial health services will get the biggest chunk of the proposed 2018 budget, at P1.4 billion.
At least P630 million of the amount is intended to be used for the operations of four provincial and 12 district hospitals.
The budget will cover not only the wages of all health workers but also the purchase of more advanced medical equipment such as dialysis machines for the province’s 16 hospitals.
Dialysis machines
What started as a simple question on the need to install new chemo-dialysis machines in province-owned hospitals led officials to ask if there were people qualified to operate the new equipment which the PHO intended to buy.
“There’s a significant increase on the number of patients in Cebu who needed chemo-dialysis but it’s only Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) who has this kind of medical services,” noted 2nd District PB Member Edsel Galeos.
Seventh district PB Member Christopher Baricuatro, chairperson of the committee on health and public services, responded by saying that chemo-dialysis machines, which cost around P2 million to P3 million each, already formed part of the proposed budget.
Baricuatro also said that remote areas like Camotes Island will be prioritized in the installation of the new medical equipment so that its residents would no longer have to go to the mainland to avail of dialysis services.
But Baricuatro later revealed that the province lacked qualified health practitioners who could operate the machines and assist patients.
“As to who will operate these dialysis machines, we actually lack in number. But we have a partnership with doctors in Region 1 where they have more anesthesiologists who can train our nurses so that they will be able to man the machines,” Baricuatro said.
If the budget is approved, the training will last for at least six months with expenses chargeable to the Maintenance and Other Operating Expenditures (MOOE) funds of the 16 province-owned hospitals, Baricuatro added.
Under the proposed 2018 budget of the Cebu provincial government, over P3.5 million was allocated to fund future trainings for health workers. /with USC Intern Gavin Cubillo
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