Osmeñas pound CCMC; Mike vows investigation

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama wants to investigate Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) doctors who charge professional fees from poor patients.

Rama said doctors in the CCMC, whether regulars or casuals, are not supposed to collect professional fees because they are already compensated by City Hall.

However, Rama said the case of medical consultants is different and this will have to be investigated.

“If lawyers offer pro bono services to poor litigants, doctors should also offer free services to poor patients,” said the mayor who is a lawyer.

Rep. Tomas Osmeña of Cebu City’s south district said on Thursday that CCMC continues to fail in the delivery of health services to poor city residents.

He said that while CCMC is getting over P200 million in annual budget to operate a 200- bed hospital, the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), which has 800 beds, is offering better medical services for a budget of P372 million.

Councilor Margot Osmeña, the council’s budget committee chairperson, said about P180 million of the CCMC annual appropriation is spent on personnel expenses.

She complained that despite this huge allocation for salaries, they have been getting reports about CCMC medical consultants separately charging professional fees to patients.

These fees, she said, are not reflected in the official hospital bills, which are then charged to the city’s health program known as Champ.

Rep. Osmeña said complaints against CCMC operations is reason enough to support his proposal to divert CCMC annual appropriation to the Department of Health, which will then be asked to assist barangays who intend to get involved in the delivery of basic health services.

“Clearly we cannot trust CCMC even with the procurement and the distribution of medicines,” he said.

Counilor Osmeña for her part that despite the dismal record of the CCMC in making medicines accessible to poor patients, the City Council had doubled their budget for medicine from P20-million in 2011 to P40-million this year.

Reacting to Rep. Osmeña’s proposal to decentralize distribution of medicines from CCMC to barangays, Rama said barangays are not prepared and lacks the expertise in the delivery of health services. He said they are better off focusing on garbage collection and the maintenance of peace and order.