mysiquijor.com

MySiquijor.com Newsletter (June 10, 2005)

(The following is partial content of a MySiquijor.com Newsletter distributed June 10, 2005)

..............................................................................................................................................

During my solicitation for donations to the MySiquijor Medical Campaign I have received various responses. One such response was that Dumaguete was an alternative source where one could receive medical attention, thus no need to be concerned about the quality of medical care available on the island. If you share that opinion, I urge you to read the following article and then come up with another excuse for not participating.

Gov presses panic button on shortage of doctors

First posted 04:34am (Mla time) June 10, 2005
By Romy G. Amarado, PDI Visayas Bureau
Inquirer News Service

Editor's Note: Published on page A19 of the June 10, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer

DUMAGUETE CITY- Negros Oriental Gov. George P. Arnaiz warned a time might come when they would have to turn away patients from other provinces, as the number of doctors at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital (NOPH) continue to dwindle.

Since last year, six doctors have left NOPH to work as nurses in America.
The governor said that currently, NOPH accepts patients from the nearby towns of Zamboanga, Siquijor, Cebu and Negros Occidental "because we cannot refuse them."

"But if we will have only very few doctors left, we (will) have no choice but (to) prioritize patients from our province," Arnaiz said in a statement issued yesterday.

Arnaiz said NOPH is accommodating more than 300 patients, at any given time, with only 43 doctors attending to all of them. About 40 of those patients are from outside of Negros Oriental.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Ely Villapando earlier said NOPH, a 250-bed hospital, needs at least 72 doctors.

There is little hope of filling up all those positions, however, as doctors continue to leave, many of them to work as nurses abroad. Only seven of the 43 doctors still at the NOPH have not taken up nursing, according to Arnaiz.

"The national government should do something about it because the LGU (local government unit) cannot increase the salary of its doctors because of budgetary limitation imposed by the DBM (Department of Budget and Management)," Arnaiz said.