Vice Governor Hilario Davide III | Rosalie O. Abatayo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Vice Governor Hilario Davide III said in an interview this morning, October 15, that we was “uncomfortable” with the provincial government’s practice of outsourcing medical and clerical personnel for province-run hospitals.
Davide said that he has been hearing negative feedbacks on the non-renewal of contracts of Job Order (JOs) personnel including doctors, who used to work in these hospitals.
“I heard complaints sa pagkawagtang sa mga JO (job order). Naay hospital nga nacompromiso ang health services, mga pasyente nga wala maatiman, dunay relatives and families of patients nga nagcomplain sa kakulang sa doctor,” Davide said.
(I have been hearing complaints on the non-renewal of contracts of the Job Order employees. There were health services that were compromised, patients that were not attended to, relatives of patients who were complaining on the lack of doctors.)
Davide said that he would still prefer if the provincial government is directly involved in the hiring of medical and clerical personnel for the four provincial hospitals and 12 district hospitals.
Read more: Capitol to be ‘job order-free’ starting October 1
LBP Services Corp. won separate contracts to supply medical and clerical personnel to province-run hospitals. Each of the contracts cost P176 million and P82 million respectively.
The contracts that were signed on September 26 took effect on October 1.
Dr. Christina Gianggo, head of the Provincial Health Office (PHO), earlier said that outsourcing the medical personnel is favorable because this will ensure that all province-run hospital are properly staffed.
Under the outsourcing contract, LBP will be the one to accept applicants and assign personnel to the different provincial and district hospitals. They are also obliged to send replacements in case one of their staff is absent or on leave.
Read more: Capitol’s manpower supplier posts job openings for medical personnel
Based on the job listings posted on the LBP website, the agency is offering P40,000 to P45,000 as basic salary for licensed doctors who will be assigned in hospitals located in the cities of Danao and Bogo and the municipalities of Daanbantayan and Sogod and Bantayan and Camotes Islands in northern Cebu and Carcar City and Minglanilla, Argao, Oslob, Tuburan, Pinamungajan, Barili, Badian, and Malabuyoc towns in the south.
Doctors will also have to be deployed in PHO-run health units that are located at the capitol building and the clinic at the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City.
LBP also welcomes doctors who are without experience for the medical officer and medical specialist posts.
Davide said it remains to be seen if Garcia’s outsourcing policy will work.
“That remains to be seen unsa gyud ang padulngan aning outsourcing. Maybe the governor feels that this is the best method pero akong tan-aw ana, my personal view, which is why pag-entra nato pag 2013 gi-undang ta nang outsourcing and we resorted to job orders kay gusto nato ang probinsya mismo ang mo-hire sa mga medical personnel,” said Davide.
(The outcome of this outsourcing method remains to be seen. Maybe the governor feels that this is the best method (for the province) but not in my personal view. This was the reason why I ordered a stop to the practice of outsourcing when I assumed governor in 2013 and resorted to hiring job orders because we want to be the ones to hire the medical personnel.)
Last October 2, the provincial government’s outsourcing policy drew public attention following reports that the district hospital in Argao town ceased to operate for hours because of the lack of doctors. / dcb