A Capitol executive claims that the provincial government was never consulted in relation to the bill about the Candijay Community Hospital (CCH) being reverted to the Department of Health (DOH) for its hospital management.
The claim was aired by Asst. Provincial Health Officer Cesar Tomas Lopez during the virtual press conference held on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020.
Lopez maintained that Capitol’s position on the bill was never sought prior to the filing of the bill seeking to allow the Department of Health (DOH) take control of the CCH.
Currently, the CCH is one of the healthcare facilities under the management of the provincial government through the Provincial Health Office (PHO).
Lopez, in a radio interview on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2020, over a provincial government-produced radio program said that he learned only about the bill filed by Third District Rep. Kristine Alexie-Tutor, via social media.
During Friday’s press conference, Lopez admitted that it would have been helpful if the 3rd district representative and the provincial government were able to sit down and discuss the condition of the CCH.
“In fairness sa provincial government, wala mi makadawat ug walay consultation prior to the proposal of that bill in Congress. That way, mas ma discuss unta pod [ug] maayo ang mga intent sa maong proposed law. Anyway, ang ako lang ini, medyo taas man gud ang discussions niini, but nevertheless let’s just say that we, niingon ko nga Bohol is one of the Implementation sites of the Universal Health Care (UHC) law. So precisely, very central to that law would be reintergration and close collaboration between national government and LGU (local government unit), including the upgrading, the improvement, the increase in manpower of all hospitals managed by the LGUs,” Lopez said.
He added: “So, we are [moving] towards that direction. Personally, this is just a personal view. The intent of the proposed bill can be very well addressed when we will implement the Universal Health Care law in Bohol beginning next year.”
“Also, at the very start of the Yap administration at the Capitol, there was a plan to upgrade the hospital facilities under a hospital modernization program, which has been stalled by the Coronavirus disease (Covid) pandemic,” Lopez added.
Lopez also said that the PHO is procuring several equipment and is planning for infrastructure upgrade for CCH amounting to around P70 million.
“Naa na gyuy programs ang atong governor nga e-upgrade ang tanang hospital sa Bohol,” Lopez said during the press conference.
For his part, Gov. Arthur Yap echoed the position of Lopez by saying that the provincial government was not consulted regarding the bill.
Yap said that the provincial government is doing something to alleviate the plight of the CCH through the hospital modernization program of the provincial government.
Yap added that during his time as third district congressman, he did not entertain the idea of reverting any hospital in the third district to DOH’s management because “it is against the grain of the local government code.”
The governor reiterated that the reason the hospitals have been devolved and taken away from the management of the DOH, is to “strengthen the autonomy of local governments.”
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, the House Committee on Health passed, on the committee level, House Bill No. 4723 seeking to revert the CCH to the management of the DOH and to upgrade its bed capacity from 10 beds to 50 beds, including the upgrade of the medical care facilities and increase in the number of health care personnel working in the said hospital (see related story on page 1).