This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VII, No. 2, Feb. 11-17, 2007
PGH: Hospital for the Poor No
More
The
management of the country’s premier public hospital said that there is a need to
increase fees to have funds for improving facilities and services. Various
groups, however, argued that increasing fees will be done at the expense of the
poor who are supposed to be the main beneficiaries of public health services.
BY AUBREY
MAKILAN The University of the
Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) community and other health
groups last week said that there is no reason for increasing fees of PGH’s
services, arguing that it is being done at the expense of poor patients. Rate increases In a Feb. 8 dialogue with
PGH-based health groups, UP-Manila Chancellor Ramon Arcadio and PGH Director
Carmelo Alfiler said that they will push through with the imposition of the
operating room (OR) fee of P1,500 ($31.05) despite protests from various groups.
In the past, the use of the OR was free. Present in the dialogue
included representatives of the UP Manila Coalition against PGH Rates Increases,
All-UP Workers Union (AUPWU), All-UP Academic Employees Union and the
associations of physicians, nurses, nursing attendants and utility workers. In end-January, the planned
rate increases for blue card acquisition and medical certificate releasing were
deferred. The payment for the blue card – which every patient should have to
transact with PGH – was supposed to increase by 114% from P7 to P15 ($0.14 to
$0.31). On the other hand, the “fast-lane” payment for getting a medical
certificate was proposed to be increased by 400% from P20 to P100 ($0.41 to
$2.07). The UP-PGH’S rate increase
proposals were made immediately after the UP Board of Regents’ (BOR) approval of
the tuition increase for incoming freshmen students. During the BOR’s 1216th
meeting on Dec. 15, the highest policy-making body of the UP did not only
approve a 233-percent hike in tuition and miscellaneous fees. The BOR also ruled
that “tuition will be subsequently adjusted annually based on the national
inflation rate.” At whose expense? With the proposed P1,500
($31.05) OR fee, the administration would not give up the projected annual
income of about P16 million ($331,228.65), said Jossel Ebesate, president of
AUPWU and secretary-general of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW). According to Ebesate, the
administration claimed that the income will be allocated for the development
efforts of the hospital. “Profit at whose expense?”
he asked. “Hindi tama na ang development efforts to improve facilities
and services ay kukunin mo sa patients na dapat ay sineserbisyuhan mo.”
(It is not right that development efforts to improve facilities and services
will be sourced from patients whom you are supposed to serve.) PGH has 500 pay beds, 800
charity beds and 200 special beds or for the intensive care unit (ICU). PGH
accommodates about 1,500 patients every day in the out-patient department (OPD)
and 350 patients every day in the emergency room (ER). Most of these patients,
Ebesate said, are charity patients. At first, the PGH
management claimed that only holders of the Philippine Health Insurance, Inc. (PhilHealth)
card would be required to pay the OR fee. However, since 70 percent of patients
undergoing surgical operations are not covered by PhilHealth, Ebesate said that
everybody will now be affected by the imposition of the OR fee. In case of non-PhilHealth
coverage, patients will be assessed by the hospital’s social service which will
then find donors to help them. If no donor is found, Ebesate said that the OR
fee would be waived. His group, however, doubt if this will be implemented. In many cases, Ebesate said
that nurses and physicians shoulder the charges passed on even to
poorest-of-the-poor patients. “Wala pa nga ‘yung OR fee, hindi na kaya
ng mga pasyente ‘yung mga (simpleng) bayarin. Paano pa kapag nagtaas na?”
(Even now that there is no OR fee, patients cannot afford basic fees. What more
if the fees increase?) Wrong priority Ebesate, chief nurse of the
PGH nursing service, said that it is not true that there is no fund available
for health services. “Mali lang ang priority,” (The priority is wrong) he
said, citing misappropriations in the national budget as a result of higher
allocation for debt service and military expenditures. Since 1983, Ebesate said
that the PGH budget for personnel services (PS) and maintenance and other
operating expenses (MOOE) has never reached P1 billion ($20.7 million). Their
actual computations showed that they need about P2 billion ($41.4 million). He said that the PGH has
been generating income to augment the government’s meager budgetary allocation.
From three percent in the past, Ebesate said that PGH has been earning 30
percent of its total budget at present. To show their firm
opposition to the rate increases, Ebesate said that all groups of the UP-PGH
plan to stage mass actions at the offices of concerned government agencies like
the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and Finance (DOF). Bulatlat (Computation of dollar
equivalents based on an exchange rate of P48.305 per US dollar) © 2007 Bulatlat
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Employees,
health groups oppose hospital fee increases
Bulatlat