QCMC

"More on the plight of doctors."

The other day, the Quezon City Government, through Josephine Sabando, director of the Quezon City General Hospital sent a letter to the Manila Standard desk, in response to my column. On April 16, I wrote about the plight of the doctors of the Quezon City Medical Center.

I appreciate Ms. Sabando as she did not, in any way, denied the veracity of what I have written and in fact, validated it.

In her letter which was published in Saturday’s edition of the Manila Standard, she said that the Quezon City Government under the helm of Mayor Joy Belmonte “values tremendously the commitment  of  the city’s health workers in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Unfortunately though, Ms. Sabando said the present administration just inherited the problem from past administration that allowed the increase of the number of resident doctors “without any concomitant increase in the approved plantilla positions for the hospital.” 

In fact, Ms. Sabando said, the present administration “immediately sought to remedy this lapse by compensating our resident doctors by increasing the compensation due to them, even before the onset of this pandemic.”

According to Ms. Sabando, the city government “raised the compensation of our contractual resident doctors from zero to levels comparable to the national average retroactive Jan. 2, 2020 (first-year residents from zero to P25,000 and second-year residents from P21,000 to P35,000). If there would be any delay in the processing of these benefits, this delay shall immediately be resolved and the benefits received in full by our health workers.”

And to further assist the health workers, Ms. Sabando bared “the city has passed several executive orders and ordinances to provide the health workers with additional benefits such as hazard pay and special risk allowances, as well as to protect them against all forms of discrimination.”

And just last Monday, Ms. Sabando said the City Council passed an ordinance that would grant frontliners who contract COVID-19 with substantial financial assistance. However, Ms. Sabando was quick to add that the doctors have to wait for sometime as they cannot shortcut the process and has to strictly abide by the rules set by the Civil Service Commission.

Nice to hear the Quezon City Government is finally doing something to address the injustice committed against our frontliners.

In fact, the source of my article, an insider actually, would like to express her appreciation of Ms. Sabando’s pronouncement. Only she adds that prior to the publication of my article, Belmonte was aggressively asking the QCMC doctors to sign a waiver which would absolve the city government and the Department of Health of any responsibility should they contract the dreaded disease.

Also, the source said Belmonte could have done something to address their plight even before she became mayor as she was also a part of the past administration to which Ms. Sabando is putting the blame. Belmonte has served as vice mayor for nine years from 2010 up to last year when she assumed the city mayorship.

According to my source, it was the City Council which is in charge of allocating budget for every department and office the city government manages. In fact, the source said that during the height of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs, the City Council under then Vice Mayor Belmonte allocated additional budget amounting to several millions of pesos for additional beds and food provisions for about 400 drug users admitted to the hospital for rehabilitation.

“She could have done something even then but she opted not to. But everything suddenly changed when the article (April 16 my column) came out. Biglang nagbago ihip ng hangin. Pero maraming salamat pa rin at nabigyan ng boses ung mga bata para makakapagsabi ng mga hinaing nila,” the source said in a message sent to this writer. 

“Hindi sila binigyan ng item by the way. Binigyan sila ng adjunct item na wala pa ring hazard pay,” the source added.

“It's a small win but still a win anyways. Thank you very much for shedding light on this matter and giving the doctors a voice,” the source added.

When I checked my FB messenger, I was surprised to receive a message request from someone I didn’t know. I realized it was apparently from one of the doctors from QCMC.

The message read: “Sir, if you’re the journalist that exposed the QCMC residents’ situation, I can’t thank [you] enough!!”

This was my reply: “It would be a greater crime if you see an injustice being done right before your eyes and you decide to walk away and do nothing.

“But to be honest, if there’s someone who is owed gratitude here. It is you the doctors, the health workers and all others at the frontline. It is you whom we owe a lot. If I am still here writing, exposing things as I see them, it is because you have made that possible you are risking everything you have while we are here in the comfort of our homes. No words can be enough to express our gratitude.

Mabuhay kayong mga nasa unang hanay!”