The Ospital ng Makati or OsMak is now accepting patients in need of routine laboratory examinations, Makati Mayor Abigail Binay announced on Thursday.
“I am pleased to inform our constituents that laboratory examinations are now available at the Ospital ng Makati. We are exerting all efforts to restore basic services that have been compromised by inefficiencies and irregularities under the previous administration,” Binay said.
The hospital has a P2.79-billion budget for this year, consisting of funding for personal services, P951.19 million; maintenance and other operating expenses, P1.47 billion; and capital outlay, P375.13 million.
OsMak’s laboratory services include CBC platelet count, peripheral blood smear, PT/PTT (Prothrombin time/Partial thromboplastin time), routine blood chemistry, and arterial blood gases (ABGs)-pulmonary laboratory.
Available tests for routine blood chemistry include Glucose/OGCT; BUN, Creatinine; Blood Uric Acid; complete lipid profile; AST, ALT, AlkPhos; Na, K, Cl, Ionized Calcium; Total Protein, Albumin; HbA1c; Magnesium, Phosphorus; Amylase, LDH; Bilirubin (Total & Direct); Total Calcium; CSF Glucose & Protein; Troponin I; Pro-BNP; and D-Dimer.
Under the previous administration, the services of the ISO-certified OsMak deteriorated, Binay said. Its laboratory and medical supplies suffered serious shortages, while its major diagnostic equipment and air-conditioning system had broken down and were not repaired.
“The failure of the previous administration to address these problems caused severe discomfort and inconvenience not only for patients and relatives, but for hospital personnel as well,” Binay said.
The mayor said her administration has already taken urgent measures to “restore efficiency and compassion” in the services of the hospital.
Vergel Binay, OsMak medical director, said certain innovations put in place in the past few months primarily for the convenience of the patients. These include the introduction of the Bar Code System in the registration process, which is being done by phase.
Old patients already registered in the hospital’s electronic database have been given their own bar code attached to their Yellow Card so that when they come back, their cards will just be scanned to activate their registration.
The new hospital management also established a self-registration Kiosk for computer-literate patients, and an Assisted Registration Kiosk for those who need assistance in using the facility.
The hospital has nurses trained to assist and act like physicians, focusing on only two to three patients at a time. Their functions are clearly limited to educating and explaining to patients their condition and following up diagnostic work-ups. Their main purpose is to alleviate the anxiety of patients and relatives while doctors are attending to other patients.
At the Emergency Room, task parallelism, monitoring system and alert status have been strengthened to improve the efficiency of laboratory and radiologic tests on patients, ensure prompt action on test results, and immediate feedback to relatives of patients at the waiting area, respectively.
To facilitate the admission process and resolve overcrowding at the ER, the hospital has opened a Discharge Lounge for ambulatory patients waiting for their relatives to fetch them. It has also provided home conduction for non-ambulatory patients who are Makati residents. The hospital has been able to list down non-ambulatory patients to be included in the Home Care Service being rendered by the Makati Health Department.
