Making money out of public service

The residents of the Province of Cebu is suffering in terms of access to immediate medical attention since the personnel of the 16 hospitals under the care of the Cebu Provincial Government were laid off by Gov. Gwen Garcia. There has been a cry via social media about this. Sadly, this has not been talked at large because of the superficial publicity stunts of the Garcia camp.

Poor families with sick members have to endure the fear of losing someone because the services of the said hospitals have deteriorated dramatically. I do not take blame to the remaining hospital personnel because even if you are the best in your field but you are expected to serve a number of patients good for a dozen of personnel, one cannot sustain the quality medical care.

I don't like the former governor Junjun Davide of the Province of Cebu, now the vice governor, because he is indecisive and he lacks vigor in setting direction of the province. But to be fair to him, he once made proper staffing of the hospitals and made some improvements in their facilities. Slowly, the doctors and nurses have flocked to the hospitals. Albeit imperfect, there were personnel who can attend to the bulk of the provincial patients. This should have been continued.

Proudly, Gov. Gwen Garcia has converted the employment of the doctors and nurses to an agency personnel status. She has failed to realize that instead of giving the full budget to the hardworking doctors and nurses, she is allowing an agency or a corporation to profit from their services. Remember, there is an agency fee for each agency personnel, meaning for each doctor and nurse.

Is this what public service is about? Instead of the public servants be given what is due to them so they will be inspired to continue to give noble services to those who are in need, Gov. Garcia let others to profit from their sweat and dedication? The public should know who are the owner/s of the winning agency. The investigative journalists should do a deep research as it raises suspicion that they are related, in one way or the other, to those who are in power and/or those who are favored by those who are in power.

The Province of Cebu is very beautiful. Sadly, it is run now by the ugly people. Wake up Cebuanos. We deserve better than this.