‘Help desk’ Peña’s response to rising OsMak complaints

MOUNTING complaints over the slow services at Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) prompted City Hall to set up an extra unit, a “help desk” manned 24/7 by eight newly hired nurses.

City Hall admitted in a statement on Tuesday that the local government-run hospital had been receiving complaints over the past months about the long queues and overcrowding at the emergency and outpatient departments.

One dissatisfied patient said she was made to wait for more than five hours before a nurse on duty attended to her. “I will not recommend this hospital to my friends or loved ones. This will be the last time I will have myself checked here,” she said in message posted on OsMak’s Facebook page.

Days after taking over the suspended Mayor Junjun Binay in July, Vice Mayor Romulo Peña appointed doctor Danilo Anastacio as head of OsMak, replacing doctor Perry Peralta. The Inquirer tried to call Anastacio’s office for an interview but has yet to receive a reply at press time.

Peña said he had ordered the setup of a help desk at OsMak “to facilitate the provision of speedy and efficient medical services to our constituents.’’

Located on Sampaguita Street in Barangay Pembo, the tertiary hospital provides outpatient, emergency and inpatient care in the fields of surgery, pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, internal medicine, ENT, ophthalmology, dermatology, and orthopedics. It offers free outpatient consultations and subsidized hospitalization for Makati residents.

City Information Officer Gilbert de los Reyes said 300-bed OsMak caters to an average of 500 outpatients and 15 emergency cases daily. About 270 patients are confined this week alone. The hospital currently has a total personnel of 317 for clinical services, 236 for administrative service and 539 for nursing services. Maricar B. Brizuela