Crowded beds in Cebu City hospital

(Last of two parts)

The 300-bed Cebu City Medical Center caters daily to 700  patients, mostly indigent ones.

Marilyn Villanueva, 26,  blamed the skin rashes of  her four-day-old son on  a worn out, leatherette-covered bed they occupy.

“Nagka-rashes ang  bata kay ang ilang higdaanan hugaw unya gisi na. Ilabay na unta nila ang mga guba-on nga higdaanan,” Villanueva to Cebu Daily News yesterday.

(My baby  developed skin rashes because the hospital bed is dirty and torn.  They should get rid of these  beds already.)

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said he will verify with Dr. Lee James Maratas, head of the pediatrics ward, the mother’s complaint.

Rama, who is determined to keep the city-run hospital open and improve its operation,  said CCMC, which has a P200 million annual budget,  is always in need of help.

“CCMC as a hospital  needs help from all. I don’t need  to elaborate,” Rama said.

Villanueva, who gave birth to her first child last June 15, complained of  the discomfort of having to share the hospital bed with another patient.

“Magtikoko ang akong tiil kung muhigda. Dili gyud okay,” she said.

(I have to  bend my legs when I lie down. It’s not okay.)

Villanueva, a resident of barangay Pardo, Cebu City, also complained about the warm temperature inside the obstetric  ward of CCMC.

DISTRICT HOSPITALS

District hospitals under the supervision of the Cebu provincial government also could not escape scrutiny.

Dr. Cristina Giango, head of the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO), said district and   provincial hospitals need  more doctors, especially medical specialists who are willing to work in the provinces.

There are 16 district hospitals and four provincial hospitals in Cebu.

The provincial hospitals are in Balamban, Bogo City, Carcar City, and Danao City.

“We don’t have any problem   in terms of  the number of staff and equipment,” Giango said.

She said, there used to be a time when patients would spend for the transportation and food of nurses who accompany them while being transported from the provinces to the Dept. of Health-managed Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) in Cebu City.

“That is no longer the practice because we have been providing transportation expenses for  nurses,” she said.

The 800-bed VSMMC serves as the referral tertiary public hospital of Cebu and  Central Visayas. / Ador Vincent Mayol, Reporter