CCMC, BFP co-exist amid crises

After the standoff between the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP-7) and the Cebu City government on Thursday afternoon over the use of a portion of the BFP building, the fire department and the Cebu City Medical Center continue to co-exist.

Dr. Gloria Duterte, CCMC chief said, the firefighters will only be allowed to use the temporary hospital’s billing section as their sleeping quarters.

They transferred all their beds to the bigger office space located at the second floor of the BFP building as agreed in order to end the standoff.

BFP 7 director Ma. Luisa Hadjula earlier ordered her personnel to put up temporary quarters and a command center on the second floor in preparation for Oplan Yolanda.

The second floor was already occupied by CCMC personnel and Hadjula insisted that the rooms be shared with the BFP.

However, Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama refused to allow the BFP personnel to share the space on the second floor of the BFP building which used be occupied by the Cebu City Fire Department (CCFD).

The CCFD moved to the Pari-an fire substation after the CCMC transferred its operation to the BFP building.

After the Oct. 15 7.2-magnitude earthquake, the CCMC was declared unsafe for occupancy because of the damage it sustained.

Duterte said she transferred her billing section personnel to the lobby to accommodate the the BFP.

They also use as their kitchen a space located near Duterte’s office.

Duterte is confident that Hadjula will honor her word that they would vacate the building after typhoon Zoraida leaves Cebu.

Mayor Rama said discussions on the hospital concerns will resume after typhoon Zoraida passes Cebu and after the city recovers from the effects of typhoon Yolanda.

The temporary city hospital resumed operation last Friday and has admitted 43 patients: 18 pedia cases, 18 internal medicine (IM) patients, four OB-Gyne and three surgery cases.

Duterte said they have expanded their hospital accommodations to 105 beds.

She said if they allow pedia patients to share beds, they can accommodate a maximum of 150 patients.

An operating room was established beside the stairs leading to the second floor while a second one is also being set up nearby.

Duterte said that the city’s agreement with private hospitals to have CCMC patients billeted with them has been cancelled. The bills of those transferred to private hospitals from CCMC were already paid for using funds from the city’s City Hospitalization and Medicines Program (Champ) and Philhealth coverage.

They also sought help from local government units for a few patients from the countryside who were admitted at the CCMC when the earthquake hit and damaged the old hospital building.