4 doctors, 2 health workers in Negros Occidental face malpractice probe

INQUIRER.net

BACOLOD CITY, Negros Occidental, Philippines — Four doctors and two staff members in hospitals run by the Negros Occidental provincial government were being investigated for alleged medical infractions.

The complaints filed at the Department of Health (DOH) involved medical malpractice and corruption, like the selling of medicines in hospitals, said Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz.

The complaints were lodged by affected patients and the DOH had asked the province to help in the probe, said Diaz.

Diaz, however, declined to identify the six respondents since the complaints were still under investigation.

“We are instilling responsibility and accountability in all our health-care workers. They ought to render quality service,” Diaz said.

Allegations

The allegations surfaced just as Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has been upgrading the services of the 11 district hospitals across the province.

Among the programs implemented in the province is the One Hospital Command Center, which has a system that guides patients to hospitals where they should be brought to, and also serves as a monitoring system to determine which hospitals are performing or just passing on patients to other facilities.

According to Diaz, provincial officials were aware of the practice of some hospital chiefs who kept on referring patients to other hospitals and of those who did not even report for work.

Despite this, medical services in the province would continue to be upgraded, including the recent decision to buy six more ambulances to beef up the Capitol’s emergency response under its 911 system.

The provincial government is also allocating funds for the repair of leaking roofs of its hospitals, the food terminal, and other facilities affected by last December’s Typhoon Odette (international name: Rai), he added.

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