CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Governor Lilia Pineda is looking at the possibility of privatizing provincial hospitals through the public-private partnership (PPP) in reaction to the death of a seven-month-old baby in one of the hospitals here.
Pineda said privatizing the public hospitals will professionalize hospital staff and remove the culture of “cover up” among hospital employees. She added that professional management of the public hospitals will result to better services.
There are 11 district hospitals and one provincial health care facility in the province.
Last week, Pineda lambasted medical personnel of the Escolastica Romero District Hospital for its failure to provide appropriate medical attention to the baby resulting to its death.
“I am not a doctor but I (know) for the last 30 years of assisting the poor, I have little knowledge of certain diseases, you (medical staff) should admit that you have lapses on this incident,” she said.
The governor castigated the medical personnel on their negligence in handling emergency cases.
She also reprimanded them for failing to recognize that the baby was experiencing complications for days and failed to act accordingly by providing an x-ray examination. The baby was admitted on June 19 and was transferred to a different hospital on June 24 where "baby boy" died eight hours later due to complications including dehydration and amoebiasis.
Pineda, in Monday's interview, said that the people concerned are undergoing investigation.
She added that it would be futile to improve the said hospital for P80-million and still have complaints regarding its services.
She admitted that the issue facing the hospital now is its manpower but she promised that she will not stop until everything is addressed.
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