Hospital for poor ‘must not operate for profit’

The Cebu City Council said they will study a proposal by business tycoon Manny Pangilinan to co-manage the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC).

Vice Mayor Edgardo Labella said while he supports any plans to make CCMC self-sufficient, Pangilinan’s proposal needs further study.

Councilor Margot Osmeña, who chairs the City Council budget committee, said service should not be mixed with the desire to earn profits.

“I thought CCMC is a hospital for the poor and that cannot be the case if we start to look for profit,” she said.

Osmeña said while Pangilinan is interested in investing in the CCMC, he has no track record of buying out a government-run hospital.

Still, Osmeña said, she wanted to know Pangilinan’s co-management proposal.
“If it’s for the common good, why not?” Osmeña said.

The councilor said the City Council should work on the approval of the site development plan so reconstruction could start immediately.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has been meeting with different groups and individuals here and abroad to raise P1.5 billion for the hospital construction which is expected to start in July.

He left for the United States on May 15 to meet with officials of Operation Smile led by its founders Dr. William Magee and his wife, Kathleen.

He also met with the Philippine Visayan Society in Nevada Inc. whose members promised to shoulder the cost of building the second floor of the new CCMC.

The group also promised to initiate a fund-raising campaign among members of the Filipino community in Nevada.

Regional hub

Rama said Magee was more than willing to help CCMC but wanted the city-run hospital to be converted into a “regional hub” to expand its coverage to already include treatment of illnesses common among developing countries like fistula, cleft lip and cleft palate, appendectomy and cataract.

Once converted into a regional hub, facilities will be made available to allow local doctors to meet via teleconference and consult with other doctors from other parts of the world while doing certain procedures on their patients.

Rama said Magee promised to send a “mega mission” to the city in June or July to assess the city’s request for assistance.

“They wanted to bring to the world that the CCMC wreckage will introduce a new concept of medical attention,” the mayor said.

The City Council also agreed to defer passage of an ordinance setting up an indigent elderly ward in the new CCMC until the hospital is already built.

Passing the measure proposed by Councilor Gerry Carillo ahead of the hospital reconstruction project may be “premature”, Councilor Nendell Hanz Abella said.