The Mandaue City Health Office. | CDN Digital / File photo
MANDAUE CITY, Cebu – The Mandaue City Health Office (MCHO) is planning to hire additional doctors, nurses and midwives who will especially be deployed in health centers and clinics in the 27 barangays here.
Dr. Debra Maria Catulong, the MCHO head, said that having more health professionals is expected to improve the delivery of health services in the barangays.
This would also translate to savings and convenience, especially for the elderly patients, who will no longer have to travel to MCHO located in Barangay Centro to avail of health services.
“Para dili na sila mo-biyahe. Naay tiguwang maglisod og lakaw padung dinhi, with enough personnel maka-assure gyud ka nga ma-provide na didto [sa barangay ang ilang gikinahanglan nga service], anytime nga gusto sila muadto sa clinic. Paninguhaon nato nga serve nato sila. Mga damgo ug plano na nato sa Mandaue City,” Catulong said.
At the same time, the move was also a preparation for the implementation of a city-wide integration that is part of the universal health care program of the Department of Health.
Manpower limitation
With their current manpower limitation, Catulong said that government doctors, nurses and midwives attend to more patients than they should.
The ideal ratio is one doctor or nurse per 20, 000 Mandauehanons. As for the midwives, the ideal ratio is one midwife per 5, 000 Mandaue City residents.
Mandaue City, a high urbanized city in Cebu, has a population of at least 364,116 based on the 2020 census.
Catulong said that at present, the 27 barangays are clustered in five groups. These are Butuanon, Centro, Kadagatan, Kabukiran, and Mahiga clusters.
Two to five doctors, six to nine nurses and four to six midwives are assigned, depending on the number of residents who belong to each of these cluster.
Catulong said that each of these clusters currently have sufficient number of doctors and nurses, but they need additional midwives.
Gradual hiring
The demand for medical professionals, Catulong said, is expected to increase in the coming years, thus he need to hire more.
“Mandaue City is trying to live up to that recommendation because we always want to provide gyud the best for Mandauehanons,” Catulong said.
And since they also have budgetary limitations, Catulong said that the hiring of additional health professionals will be made gradual.
While she could not yet say the exact number of health professionals that they intend to hire or the time frame for the hiring process, Catulong expressed confidence that the City Health Office will be able to accomplish this plan with the support of Mandaue City officials.
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