Rama lauds CCMC's cleanliness

Cebu City acting Mayor Michael Rama yesterday said he observed an improvement in the cleanliness of the Cebu City Medical Center and hopes that it will be maintained.

Rama and some city councilors headed by acting vice mayor Hilario Davide III conducted a surprise visit at the CCMC shortly before noon yesterday to observe the city-owned hospital.

After the visit, Rama said that he was happy to find the surroundings of the hospital already clean unlike before when he conducted a surprise visit before Christmas.

He instructed CCMC director Myrna Go and hospital consultant Frank Japson to make sure that the cleanliness of the hospital will always be maintained.

Japson was appointed the hospital’s new consultant effective January 1, 2009 and tasked to improve the security and cleanliness of the 48-year-old medical facility.

Rama assured Go that the city is willing to allocate capital budget to buy equipment and improve the building once they improve their services.

A City Hall official told The FREEMAN that Rama is strongly against the planned closure or sale of the hospital.

After Mayor on-leave Tomas Osmeña gave Rama full control of the CCMC one of his first moves was to designate an additional consultant.

Rama hopes that Japson, who used to be the Cebu provincial administrator, will find ways to improve the performance of the CCMC by way maintaining its cleanliness and improving security.

The drainage problem in the vicinity of the hospital that caused the foul smell has been solved already, but Rama instructed Japson to attend to the damaged portion of the hospital’s back fence.

Some hospital officials told the councilors yesterday that CCMC really needs more budget for drugs and medicines if city hall really wants to improve its services to the indigent patients.

The hospital’s annual budget for 2009 is only P139 million, including the hospital’s collection from the patients amounting to P34 million. Of the P139 million, only P14 million is intended for drugs and medicines.

A huge part of the hospital’s budget just goes to the personal services or salaries and allowances of the 525 employees. — Rene U. Borromeo/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)