CCMC head wants own BAC to make hospital purchases

CEBU, Philippines - The head of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) is requesting the creation of a special bids and awards committee to handle procurement matters involving the City-run hospital and the City Health department.

Mayor Michael Rama, when interviewed by The FREEMAN yesterday, said he will approve the request of CCMC chief Eduardo Sedoripa because he understands the necessity of speeding up the processing of documents.

Sedoripa has been worried because the processing of their procurement documents usually experienced delay at the Bids and Awards Committee level. The regular members of BAC reportedly have several other procurement requests to attend to.

The CCMC chief was happy after learning through The FREEMAN of Rama’s assurance to create a separate BAC to handle procurement of drugs and medicines as well as medical equipment for the CCMC and City Health Office.

Whoever will be appointed chief of the 48-year old city hospital, he said, may not succeed in improving its services unless the City provides the CCMC with enough money and speed up the processing of procurement requests.

CCMC doctors, in a recent interview, had suggested for the Bids and Awards Committee to prioritize purchase requests for drugs and medicines so it will not take five to six months for approval.

One way of solving the problem is to purchase drugs and medicines in bulk, but Dr. Sedoripa believes this could not be done because the allocations for these are not yet ready, meaning these have yet to be collected as taxes.

Only P20 million of the P211 million CCMC budget for 2011 is allocated for drugs and medicines, while the City Health department set aside P19.2 million for drugs and medicine expenses.

Rama hired Sedoripa, who used to be a municipal health officer in Cebu province, to manage the CCMC with a task to uplift the performance of the CCMC. –(FREEMAN)