Fact-finding team formed to probe hospital mismanagement
Iloilo -- A fact-finding team has been tasked by Gov. Niel Tupas, Sr. to look into the allegations hurled by the twenty-four medical personnel of Iloilo Provincial Hospital against their hospital chief Dr. Noel Icamina.
The team is headed by Provincial Planning and Development Office (PPDO) chief Mario Nillos with Alma Ravena, Dr. Judy Ann Dumayas and Dr. Patricia Grace Trabado as members.
Tupas reportedly instructed the fact-finding team to immediately conduct an investigation upon learning of the complaint.
The "concerned" hospital personnel in their letter-complaint dated January 6, 2006 accused Icamina of mismanagement resulting to bad hospital services.
Iloilo Provincial Hospital which is located in Pototan, Iloilo is run by the provincial government.
The complainants cited as one of the problems the lack of medicines at the hospital's pharmacy which causes inconvenience among the patients.
They also claimed that the hospital always run out of x-ray films, as a result patients have to buy their own x-ray films from outside sources.
The complainants also alleged that the hospital offers limited laboratory examinations despite the existing laboratory facilities.
The medical personnel also noted the lack of basic materials in the operating room such as sutures xylocaine (anesthesia), nasogastric tubes, and urinary catheters. They said patients still have to buy these materials before they can be scheduled for operation.
The complainants also observed that the Pregio van acquired by Icamina to be used as hospital ambulance had not been used by patients. They claimed that it can seldom be seen in hospital premises.
"The initial batch of PhilHealth cards that were given to the social worker supposedly to be distributed to the indigent patients were taken by the chief of hospital for reason we can only surmise," added the letter-complaint.
The medical personnel stressed in their letter that they have come out in the open to end the abuses and mismanagement of Icamina.
"This is not only for the employees but more importantly for the patients," they said.
To note, Icamina was relieved of his post in 2003 for allowing the disposal of hospital wastes in an open dump inside the hospital compound.