Health secretary Ona suggests outsourcing of health services

DUMAGUETE CITY ,Philippines  - Health Secretary Enrique Ona has recently told health officials of Regions 6, 7 and 8 to explore the possibility of outsourcing health services to cope with their staffing needs and ensure the efficiency of services to the public.

The suggestion came up in a conference here where an engineer from the hospital maintenance service (HMS) for the three Visayas regions expressed his worries on the possible devolution of the department and the eventual absorption of the engineers to certain hospitals, thus denying other hospitals of the much needed engineering services. He suggested that local government units with hospitals should hire engineers, which can be trained with the HMS module.

Ona in turn said: "Suppose gumawa tayo ng outsource that will take care of the entire (engineering needs of the hospitals in the region). I am not saying that this is what we will do ... suppose kayong lahat na engineers organize yourselves and then enter into a contract with the government for a certain amount na aayusin ninyo (ang mga equipments)."

Ona contended that outsourcing services like engineering, security and janitorial, an institution's efficiency would be increased. Outsourcing companies would be rated and renewed based on their performance thus there would be a higher tendency for them to perform in their utmost efficiency.

The secretary related his experience in the National Kidney Transplant Institute, which outsourced its parking service to an Ayala subsidiary. He said the hospital's administration, as a result, was no longer bothered by concerns in the parking lot that included unruly guards, unkempt landscaping, and even reported lost properties.

"What we used to earn in one year, practically we earned in one month," he said. "Very efficient pa, happy pa yung mga tao," he said, adding that in the almost eight years that the parking lot was ran by a private company, the hospital was able to maximize its earning without necessarily increasing the parking rates.

"The point is naging efficient, maganda ang service, happy ang tao, and I saved, hanggang ngayon," he said. "We are not in the business of running a parking lot; our business is to treat our patient well. "That is why sa NKTI ang engineering is outsourced, security is outsourced, janitorial is outsourced," Ona said.

Outsourcing of hospital services is not a new concept, he said. In the United States, hospitals have outsourced some departments and medical staffs including radiologists, nurses, physical therapists, dietary, and others. Administrative functions are also being outsourced including engineering, billing and accounting, housekeeping, security, and janitorial services.

"I'm not saying that we should do this in the Philippines," Ona told government medical administrators from the Visayas regions. "I'm just saying we have to also think and be aware of what others have done and what is something that is doable in the Philippines."

Ona said that as much as there is a need for engineers to maintain the equipment of government hospitals, the level of expertise of engineers needed has made it hard for these institutions to hire and sustain qualified engineers needed to maintain delicate equipment as those in the emergency and surgery rooms.

"I cannot keep our good IT people (because) they are always pirated," he said referring to his experience at NKTI. "So, outsourcing sometimes is the better way. Let's try to think out of the box without getting so carried away," he said. "But make sure you get the right advice so that the process is well structured and you will not get into trouble," he added.