By Egay Uy
MY klasmet Rhona Canoy recently picked a side and chose to enlist in the battle I have started to wage. Thank you, klasmet.
Klasmet Rhona writes: “His grievous hospital experience is not uncommon. As a matter of fact, it is the practice, with some hospitals being more mercenary than others. And I completely echo his frustration and anger at the atrocity and the Department of Health’s apparent lack of concern over it. Private hospitals are, after all, a business first and foremost and a humane service only secondarily.
“For what is more secure than that? The two really most secure investments are those which have to do with the preservation of life, and the honoring of life ended. Because no one will escape these two. Hospitals being the more profitable because we all will keep going back to them as many times as we feel we need to, for as long as we’re alive.
“Don’t get me wrong. I love hospitals. They are my refuge when my innards protest my lifestyle. And our family has been so lucky to have always lived within convenient minutes of one. I love them for the service they provide, and for the peace of mind that comes with it. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t find some of their practices abhorrent.”
The exorbitant prices of medicines in private hospitals are just the tip of the iceberg. My own experience in one private hospital may be reflective of how other private hospitals operate.
An X-ray had to be taken of Juliet’s lungs as required by an attending doctor. Since it was a holiday, I was asked to pay in cash to the X-ray laboratory plus P2,000 for the technician who will read the X-ray film. When I asked why I had to pay the two thousand, the reply was because it was a holiday.
Kahayahay ba! Kung adlaw diay nga holiday, dos mil diay ang bayad sa magbasa sa X-ray film. Kung basahon niya ang mga X-ray sulod sa usa ka oras, por dios por santo, P16,000 diay iyang adlawan sa pagsige basa ug X-ray film!
I don’t really care how much an X-ray technician makes in a day. The point is, if the patient didn’t have cash on that day, the procedure will not be performed? How about the cash deposit that I paid to the hospital cashier?
But the bigger question is: Who regulates private hospitals? If it is the Department of Health, is it doing its job?
(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the City’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team. He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)
