By loui maliza,
Stringer
WITH a growing number of patients –– an average daily admissions of 500 –– the cityun J.R. Borja General Hospital needs to gear up in order to boost its efficiency, the hospital’s chief of clinics Dr. Ma. Magda-lena Juan said.
Nothing points to this more vividly than the case an asthmatic daughter, last Thursday, who was refused medical attention because of lack of oxygen gauges and tanks.
Clint Jay Documento, 25, of Barangay Kauswa-gan, rushed his eight-month old daughter to the city hospital to be confined due to an asthma attack.
“Pero gibalibaran man mi sa nurse kay wala kuno silay oxygen. Pag-sulod gyud namo sa emergency room, giingnan dayon mi diretso nga: ‘pahibalo lang mi daan ha, walay oxygen.’ Mao to nga milakaw na lang mi,” Documento said.
He said they went to Northern Mindanao Medical Center, but was also turned down.
“Didto naman mi sa provincial (NMMC) pero gibalibaran man gihapon mi kay maayo na daw ang bata, wala na daw maghubak,” Documento said over mobile phone. “Pero pag-abot na namo sa balay, morag mi-grabe man ang bata, mao nga nagpa-hospital na lang gyud mi.”
He said they ended up admitting their daughter in a private hospital.
“Mao nani karon akong gikahadlokan. Mag-unsa na lang mi paggawas namo. Maayo na lang pud kay dunay Philhealth (insurance) akong asawa katong gihatag ni (Mayor Oscar) Moreno,” he added.
Juan said with the average of patients that they attend to daily against the 100-bed capacity of the hospital, “refusal of services like what happened to Documento’s daughter is expected.”
“Instead, we refer them to hospitals that are more capable to attend to their cases. We expect that by next year, we can raise our bed capacity to 200. But still, not enough to cater the average number of patients every day,” Juan said.
She was quick to add, however, that they have been attending to more patients compared to the previous years that the city hospital has been operating.
“We have added 10 more doctors to attend to the patients,” Juan said adding that their compensation package is way below the going rate for medical professionals.
