The health of our hospitals
NATIONAL Hospital Week came and went with many Filipinos wondering about the health of our public and private hospital system. It’s a mixed picture with many municipalities in the South missing it services while urban residents complain about expensive healthcare costs.The Philippine Medical Association reported that the number of public and private hospitals in the country dropped by 55 percent in the past 20 years, from 2,000 in 1987 to only 890 in 2007.
The PMA’s committee on legislation cited a number of reasons for the decline, including a shortage of medical professionals, principally nurses, high costs of medicine, bankruptcy and insufficient government funding for public health care.
The chairman of the committee warned more hospitals would close because of a new government policy that makes it easier for indigent patients to settle unpaid bills and to secure immediate discharge.
The Department of Health has denied there has been such a drop. The chief of the department’s bureau of licensing and regulation explained that while some hospitals may have closed down, new ones have also opened in the past two decades.
Hospital Week tiptoed into the calendar with a report that the Philippine General Hospital has started limiting admission to its maternity section to decongest its nursery.
The PGH spokesman explained that the nursery currently has an active population of 90 babies a day, against a normal capacity of 45 to 60. Services could suffer and the quality of care could weaken if the trend continues, he said.
Current policy requires that babies born normal be placed beside their mothers and not in the nursery. The hospital has advised expectant mothers to visit other hospitals or clinics.
Close to the observance, some newspapers reported that the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, the country’s largest maternity hospital, almost closed down due to questions of ownership “and possible duplications of function.”
Secretary of Health Francisco Duque III, in a meeting with hospital professionals, employees and patients, assured everyone that the 87-year old hospital was in no danger of a phaseout and that its services would continue beyond the end of the Arroyo administration.
The best news was the centennial of the Philippine General Hospital last week. The PGH is the country’s foremost public hospital, providing above-standard care to the poor since August 17, 1907.
The PGH is an important part of the University of the Philippines system, particularly its medical and nursing departments. It provides world-class training to top healthcare professionals. Its research and development program compares favorably with the best in Asia.
Generations of well-known Filipinos who have served in government and the private sector were born at the PGH. Millions have been served by its staff.
In its 100 years, the hospital has become the hope for the sick and the distressed, a sanctuary for Filipinos who know that their poverty is not a hindrance to good hospital care.
We should have a PGH in each administrative region, or a hospital similar to it in the provincial capitals and in the most populous cities. The modern public hospital is a gauge of government priority and an earnest of its social conscience. As a civilizing institution, the well-funded public hospital is indispensable in the life of the community and the nation.
Beltran Boulevard
IF you can’t stop children, spouses and assorted relatives of politicians from perpetuating political dynasties, you could at least prevent the high and the mighty from naming public places and government programs after themselves or their kin up to the fourth degree of consanguinity.
House Bill 2026 points out that 20 years after the adoption of the Constitution, Congress has not passed an enabling bill to end political dynasties. Meanwhile blue-blooded families continue to rule Philippine politics.
What’s the next best thing? “Simply ban the naming of public properties, public services and government programs after incumbent officials and their relatives,” the bill says. “This would at least put a stop to one of the most despised practices of political dynasties.”
Why despicable? Because these programs, projects and services are funded by taxpayers. To claim credit for public works is “immoral and unethical.”
We agree with the authors—Reps. Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casino, Liza Maza, Luzviminda Ilagan and Crispin Beltran. How often do we see posters and billboards advertising that a street-repair job is a project of Congressman Pedro Matakaw or see a city program named after Mayor Juan Mapi-ar?
The bill does not mention the popular practice of renaming roads, bridges and schools after a dead politician, a businessman or the uncle of an incumbent senator. The law says that no public space can be renamed without consultation with, or clearance from, the National Historical Institute.
House Bill 2026 is welcome, except that it will deprive us the pleasure of having a Satur Street, Anakpawis Avenue or a Beltran Boulevard. The Huk training school in Arayat, Pampanga, used to be known as Stalin University. That kind of public homage we will miss, too.
