Even after completing a P500-million modernization of Manila’s six city-run hospitals, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada on Tuesday said he will continue improving medical and healthcare services in these hospitals for the 1.7-million residents of the city.
Estrada said he has instructed Dr. Regina Bagsic, overall coordinator of the city hospitals, to ensure they are at par with international standards.
“The health and well-being of every Manileño is our highest priority. We just don’t want to give them free medical services, but world-class and efficient services. Manileños deserve no less,” Estrada said.
One of the six hospitals, Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital, has already been certified by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO, the mayor added.
The other five hospitals are Sta. Ana Hospital, Ospital ng Tondo, Ospital ng Sampaloc, Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center, and Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center.
Rehabilitating and modernizing the hospitals and 59 community health centers is a feat considering the city was saddled with P5 billion in debt left by the previous administration, Estrada said.
“Before we were contented with just meeting the standards set by the DoH [Department of Health]. But not now, we want to exceed those standards. In fact, Abad Santos is already ISO-certified, which means the hospital is at par with international standards,” Bagsic pointed out.
One indication of the improvement of hospital services in Manila, she said, is the number of patient admissions. GABMMC, for instance, has admitted 3,525 patients and handled 23,721 Manilenos at its Outpatient Department, with an occupancy rate of more than 100 percent over the last six months.
The Ospital ng Tondo had 3,645 admissions over the last six months and more than 29,000 at its OPD.
Overall, 16,598 patients were served and treated in the six city hospitals during the same half-year period, excluding the 141,474 who were treated at the OPDs, Bagsic said.
“The quality of service is what we have to offer, our supplies, the facilities are good. The quality is good in terms of facilities and supplies,” she stressed. “They keep coming to us and it means only one thing—they are satisfied. Otherwise, our hospitals might have no patients.”
While the inadequate number of hospital personnel and employees with “bad attitudes” need to be addressed, Bagsic said the city government is doing all it can to continue providing Manileños with free, prompt, and quality healthcare services.
“Little by little, this is not an overnight process, it takes time but we will bring it up to par. The important thing is, they know, we mean business. That’s important. They know we are strict,” Bagsic added, as she called on Manileños to report any complaints concerning hospital services and employees.
Only last month, the city acquired a P36-million state-of-the-art CT scan machine for GABMMC, the latest in a long list of brand new medical equipment Estrada’s administration has purchased to modernize the city’s public hospitals.
Last April, the city government acquired a P117-million MRI machine for the Ospital ng Maynila, on top of more brand-new CT scanners and digital X-ray machines. Estrada also put up a dialysis center and an Eye Care Center at GABMMC.