Calls to upgrade VSMMC renewed

CEBU, Philippines - The centennial anniversary of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center recently has sparked again the discussion of the needed upgrading of the facility.

This idea was greeted with full support by Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto, namesake and grandson of the founder of the hospital, Don Vicente Sotto who attended the 136th birth commemoration of his grandfather yesterday.

In an interview with the media, Sotto said he is 100 percent supporting the upgrading of the hospital and would start by looking into the ‘funding support.’

During the 100th anniversary of VSMMC last month, Department of Health Secretary Enrique Ona said in an interview with The FREEMAN, that they were able to discuss with the management the upgrading and expansion of VSMMC.

But Ona said they would need to further confer on important matters like the location of the facility-if there is a need to transfer the hospital to another bigger location, and more importantly the funding for the proposed expansion.

Senator Sotto said he would start his support by looking into the funding assistance.

“We can look into the funding support. But it’s just a matter of political will,” said Sotto, adding that DOH can greatly help with the expansion by slashing half their budget for the Reproductive health law and giving half of its appropriation to the expansion of VSMMC.

According to Sotto, DOH has allocated P300 million for Intrauterine Device (IUD) contraceptives, which he believes is too much.

“They can slash it in half, put P150 million to VSMMC for upgrading where Visayas and Mindanao will benefit,” said Sotto, one of the members of the senate who have strongly opposed the passage of the RH bill.

As for the privatization of VSMMC, Sotto said he would need to give it a thought given the possible pros and cons.

He explained that many countries that have privatized establishments like airports turned out to be good where there is less corruption. But he said that for hospitals like VSMMC, he would need to check since privatization may cause hospital bills to increase.

United Nationalist Alliance senatorial candidate Gringo Honasan believes that the issue is beyond just the concerns of VSMMC. He explained that the main concern at hand is the delivery of basic health services which he said is not a right anymore but a duty as far as the government is concerned.

“VSMMC symbol of the need for a more rationalized delivery of basic health services,” said Honasan.

Apart from problems of hospitals that are understaffed, Honasan said that the government should use the full potential of private-public partnerships. The problem, said Honasan, is on self-imposed bureaucracies where those who are willing to help are given a hard time.— /FPL (FREEMAN)