LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – – Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Roger Tong-an presented the pros and cons on whether Benguet General Hospital (BeGH)will be renationalized or under status quo in a public consultation at the Provincial Capitol on February 26.
The public consultation was in line with the two bills, House Bill 4438 and HB 6171 filed in Congress by the late Cong. Nestor B. Fongwan, Sr and Provincial Caretaker ACT-CIS Partly List Representative Eric Yap, respectively, which call for the re-nationalization of BeGH.
Tong-an said the parameters, whether to be renationalized or be retained as local government unit (LGU)-led hospital, will have to be considered in terms of its autonomy, the funds and incentives and the ultimate goal of financial risk protection.
As an LGU-retained hospital, he said the Benguet provincial government maintains its full control over its operations and management.
There will be more funds through the special health fund for incentives, improvement of health services as well as salaries and incentives and benefits of hospital staff. But to date, the pooling of financial resources for the special fund in the implementation of the Universal Health Care (UHC) has yet to be realized with the province identified as one of the UHC integration sites.
If all goes well, quality patient care with a good working environment for health workers will be maintained, he said.
BeGH was devolved to the provincial government in 1993 as mandated in the Local Government Code. It is run as an economic enterprise and subsidized by the provincial government with P35-P40 million annually.
Presently, due to budget limitations, the provincial government cannot afford to purchase medical facilities and equipment and is constrained with the hiring of additional personnel.
Provincial Accountant Lucia Kisim shared the rule on subsidy for economic enterprise which is supposed to be self-sustaining after five years. But for 14 years that BeGH has been operating as an economic enterprise, the provincial government has been funneling a yearly subsidy to sustain its operations.
If nationalized, Tong-an said that budget will come from the General Appropriations Act based on the DOH’s budget proposal.
On the issue on the turn-over of assets such as land, buildings, manpower, facilities, equipment which are the conditions set if nationalized, Tong-an said this would be a challenge to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan(SP).
As to the existing staff, Tong-an assured that they will be retained. More personnel may even be hired following DOH staffing standard depending on the hospital level.
The Magna Carta for health workers with increase in compensation and benefits will also be implemented, he said.
As to the existing partnership on trainings and other improvements with the Japan International Cooperation Agency which granted the hospital’s state-of-the-art building, Tong-an said the decision lies on the SP.
Tong-an, who hails from Benguet, sees an evolving role of BeGH once nationalized and improved – one of the apex hospitals with the implementation of UHC and a major player in the Cordillera ecosystem of health care. **JDP/SCA-PIA-CAR, Benguet
