Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia | CDN Digital file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Capitol wants the medical officer in Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital in Argao who allegedly “walked out of the hospital” to be held liable for the disruption of the hospital’s operations on Wednesday, October 2.
Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said she will order a full-blown investigation on the reported incident in ICKMH where the emergency room reportedly shut down for hours after the medical officer tendered her resignation and “walked out.”
The municipal government of Argao, in a Facebook post at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, said that there was an understaffing in ICKMH because of “employment issues.”
At 10 a.m. Thursday, October 3, the page updated that the ER of ICKMH resumed operation at around 7 p.m. on Wednesday after Mayor Allan Sesaldo coordinated with the Provincial Health Office to address the concern.
“As of [this] writing, services of their Out-Patient Department is open though it is advised, except for emergency cases, that patients visit their rural health units to decongest the district hospital,” the 10 a.m. post read.
ICKMH, a district hospital, is one of the 12 district hospitals run by the Capitol through the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
Last October 1, the Capitol has started the implementation of the outsourcing of the medical and clerical personnel for the provincial and district hospitals, health units and its different offices.
Manila-based LBP Services Corp won both the P176.66 million contract for the 443 medical personnel needed to man the hospitals and health units of the province, as wells as the P82.97 million contract for the 359 clerical employees.
While LBP is responsible for the deployment of the personnel to the offices and health units, the firm may also absorb the job order personnel assigned in the hospitals and offices upon the recommendation of their department heads and if the employee consents to be placed under the employment of the manpower agency.
“Kanang ni-walk out, I don’t know unsa iyang gi-walk outan. If ni-presume sila nga apil na siya sa service provider as a doctor, meaning gi-assume na to niya nga responsibility. Unya, kung ni-walk out siya at the time she already assume the responsibility, she could be liable kay duna baya na sila’y Hippocratic Oath. You cannot just walk out,” Garcia said.
(That doctor who walked out, I don’t know what did she walked out from. If she presumed that she is already under the service provider, it means she has assumed the responsibility. And if she walked out when she has already assumed the responsibility, she could be liable since she has taken her Hippocratic Oath. You cannot just walk out.)
Dr. Christina Gianggo, PHO head, said the doctor who allegedly walked out was absorbed by LBP.
Gianggo said the doctor tendered an immediate resignation yesterday purportedly because of the difference in the salary of doctors under the outsourcing scheme compared to that when they were hired as a job order medical personnel.
Doctors who were hired as job order employees previously enjoyed a salary equivalent to that of a Medical Officer 4, which falls under Salary Grade 23 or at least P73,000 in monthly salary. Under the outsourcing, the doctors will only have a salary equivalent to a Medical Officer 3, which falls under Salary Grade 21 equivalent to a monthly pay of P61,000.
The Capitol resorted to the outsourcing of personnel supposedly to ensure that all posts in the offices and hospitals are filled up.
This means that whenever outsourced personnel did not report to work, LBP is constrained to send in a replacement in order not to hamper operations./elb
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