Argao doctor gets hefty pay

CEBU, Philippines — The doctor in the hospital in Argao town who reportedly walked out of the facility has been receiving salary, which is more than what is set by the Department of Health for a Level 1 hospital.

This is among the disclosures made by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia in a Facebook post in answer to points raised regarding the reported walkout of a doctor at Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital.

Garcia said the doctor was hired and received a rate for Medical Officer IV even if the DOH provides that the minimum requirement for Isidro C. Kintanar Memorial Hospital to function as a Level 1 hospital is Medical Officer III.

Garcia also denied reports that the Medical Officer III has received below P50,000 as claimed by former Argao mayor Stanley Caminero.

Benefits for such a position, as provided by Presidential Decree 442 or the Labor Code of the Philippines include basic monthly pay of P43,439; night premium of P4,343.90, 13th month pay of P 3,619.92, and five days leave at P822.71.

Garcia also cited other benefits that the position did not enjoy under their previous contracts of service (COS) or Job Orders (JO), including a Social Security System premium of P1,600; Philhealth at P550.31; estate insurance of P30; and Pag-IBIG Fund premium of P100.

“That’s a total of P54,505.53 that an MO3 will receive,” Garcia said.

Garcia said she is only following the rules and guidelines set by DOH when she ordered the proper implementation of staffing patterns and rates.

“The rate has nothing to do with the outsourcing,” she said.

On Capitol’s decision to outsource personnel, Garcia said the set-up is not new or experimental because this was implemented during her first three terms as governor and has been proven to be an effective way of managing the manpower needs of the hospital.

“The explanation is simple. If the DOH guidelines provide for a hospital to have five nurses, for example, and one nurse goes on official business, the other goes on study leave, while the other one is sick, it would be difficult for the hospital administrator to immediately fill in the vacancies for the day under the regular set up of employment. Hiring of new personnel for government hospitals takes three weeks,” Garcia said.

“But with the outsourcing, responsibility rests primarily on the contractor/agency to see to it that all posts are manned all hours of every day, whether it be a nurse, doctor, specialists or even the non-medical personnel,” Garcia said further.

It was during Garcia’s previous term as governor when the provincial government started the legwork to upgrade the district hospitals in Danao, Carcar, Balamban, and Bogo into provincial hospitals.

Recently, she announced to upgrade the hospital in Bantayan Island from 25-bed into a 100-bed facility, which will increase the number of personnel requirements, per DOH guidelines.

All of these provincial hospitals are classified as Level 1 facilities but the provincial government has already started the process of raising the classification to Level II, which will be implemented in 2020.

“Lastly, for those who believe that the previous administration’s hiring of an unlimited number of highly paid doctors under contracts of service is the solution to the hospital’s woes, allow us to ask you these two questions: Did you know that many doctors under contract with Capitol never showed up regularly at their stations, while receiving full amount of pay at more than 70 thousand monthly? And, if the previous set up was so effective, why then, were there many complaints of lack of doctors and negligence?” Garcia said.

“Numbers do not necessarily spell efficiency. That is why we have the DOH to give us guidelines to adhere to,” she added. (FREEMAN)