THE establishment of a pharmacy in front of the emergency room at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) can help save the lives of dying patients, said Dr. Gerardo Aquino.
Aquino, VSMMC chief, ordered the establishment of the pharmacy in line with his other directive that all patients of the emergency room, whether they are poor or rich, will get free hospital services and medicines.
The hospital started providing free medicines to its patients last Sept. 1.
Dr. Leo Kataray, chief of the VSMMC Emergency Department, said that the pharmacy is important because in some instances, patients in serious condition died because they failed to get immediate treatment.
Kataray said that once a patient arrives, he or she must receive the medical treatment.
“There’s no time to wait for the treatment of a patient because once we are delayed that patient may die,” Kataray said.
Patient referrals
Aquino appealed to other government hospitals to refrain from making patient referrals to VSMMC if they can treat them to prevent an increase of the number of patients at their emergency room, which is already overcrowded.
Aquino observed that after 5 p.m. when the Out-Patient Department (OPD) closes, those who were not accommodated will go to the emergency room.
“So, for one year now, we extended the service time of the OPD up to 10 p.m. The intention is to help the people and decongest the emergency room. But in spite of that, the number of patients are still increasing,” Aquino said.
He added that the free medicines and services at the emergency room are also in line with the priority health agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte.
Aquino said that Duterte directed all government hospitals to provide free services and medicines to its patients.
“In one of the directives from our Central Office (Department of Health), we (government hospitals) were asked what are the projects that we can propose to Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.),” Aquino said.
He said that some of the hospitals requested for vehicles like ambulances.
“I would rather propose a project that would be availed of and would benefit the poor patients. Because we are giving free services and medicines to patients at the emergency room, I want Pagcor to subsidize it,” Aquino said.
Aquino said he submitted a proposal to Pagcor in Manila, which was also endorsed by Cebu Reps. Raul del Mar, Benhur Salimbangon and Gwen Garcia.
Aquino proposed that VSMMC will regularly submit to Pagcor the list of poor patients for medical subsidy.
