Expect the Governor Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital (GCGMH) in Tagbilaran City pushed to a spillover condition of their present “full house capacity”, wear down worsening doctor/nurse to patient ratio and potential medical equipment breakdowns due to the surge of patients from municipalities in the province.
The culprit is the critical lack of medical facilities and personnel that has been the bane of the ten district hospitals under the Provincial Government of Bohol(PGB) leading to its pathetic service to provide primary health care to almost a third of the population of 1,313,560 of Bohol.
This was the painful admission of former Board Member, Dr, Cesar Tomas Lopez, newly appointed Executive Assistant for Hospital Modernization and Health Services after a barrage of complaints reached the Office of the Governor over the inadequate services of the district hospitals.
Primary health care services plays a key role in the local community providing the widest scope of medical, surgical and maternity care to the sick and injured.
The ten district hospitals – 3 from the 1st district, 4 located in the 2nd district and 3 in the 3rd district have been turning away patients due to lack of personnel, equipment and medicines and has sent them for admission to the GCGMH in faraway Tagbilaran City.
These ten district hospitals cater to the medical needs of 352,576 residents in the province.
According to Lopez, three hospitals were upgraded to level 1 category – President Carlos P. Garcia Memorial Hospital in Talibon, Teodoro Galagar Hospital in Jagna and the Catigbi-an District Hospital.
A level one hospital, based on the Department of Health (DOH) 2015 hospital classification, shall have a minimum staff of qualified medical, allied medical and administrative personnel headed by a duly licensed Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) physician with a minimum bed space of 25 to 75.
It shall also be equipped with an operating room, a post-operative recovery room, maternity facilities, isolation facilities for infectious and communicable diseases, dental clinic, blood station, clinical laboratory with consulting pathologist, 1st level x-ray with consulting radiologist and a pharmacy.
The seven other district hospitals classified as primary care facilities or infirmaries – Congressman Simeon Toribio Hospital in Carmen, Congressman Natalio Castillo Hospital in Loon, Candijay Community Hospital, Maribojoc Community Hospital, Clarin Community Hospital, Francisco Dagohoy Memorial Hospital in Inabanga and President Carlos P. Garcia Community Hospital in Carlos P. Garcia formerly Pitogo.
An infirmary, according to DOH definition, is a healthcare facility with in-patient beds capable of providing diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions and simple surgical procedures but lacks an operating room or intensive care unit.
The CGMH is a level 3 government teaching and training hospital with a 225 bed capacity which recently got an approval to increase bed capacity to 526 through the efforts of 1st District Congressman Rene Relampagos.
A P2.22 billion modernization of the GCGMH was recently endorsed by the cabinet level Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) to the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) board for approval, according to NEDA Chief, Ernesto Pernia, Socio-Economic Planning Secretary and NEDA Director General, a Boholano.
With the increasing numbers of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patients in the province, the PGB is now applying additional effort to provide dialysis machines to the district hospitals in Jagna, Talibon and Carmen to ease the inconvenience of traveling to Tagbilaran City to avail of the limited number of dialysis machines at the GCGMH.
Governor Edgar Chatto assured the Boholanos that no effort will be spared to raise the standard of health care in the province and will be his priority before his term ends on 2019. (Chito M. Visarra and Rey Tutas)