It is refreshing, even uplifting, to those who are tired of political machinations on this island to know that the proposal to convert the derelict Eastern Bicol Medical Center into an economic enterprise is being backed to the hilt by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
The proposed ordinance, sponsored by PBMs Ariel Molina and Edwin Tanael, is said to have been approved in principle by provincial board, even prior to the conduct of the public hearing last week. The multi-party support for the measure, thus, indicates only that the legislative council recognizes the urgency of implementing the project to prevent the delivery of health services at the province’s only tertiary hospital from deteriorating any further.
Proponents are aware that the uninformed, who perceive the move as converting the public health facility into a privately-owned business, could have an impact on their votes in the coming May 2010 local elections. Even Gov. Joseph C. Cua has not been spared by ugly rumors who point to the proposal as one more evidence of his alleged penchant to widen his family’s business empire.
Some question the capability of the Board of Trustees, who will have overall management of the venture, to translate the rosy financial projections into real income. The way we look at it, there is no way for the government to improve the EBMC but to transform it into a self-governing entity which would use its generated income, as well as a subsidy from the capitol for the first few years, in providing quality and affordable health care. We islanders should not forever be condemned to sending our loved ones to expensive mainland hospitals because our provincial hospital is too ill-equipped and badly-manned to care for them.
When then Congressman Jose Alberto had the EBMC built in the `70s, the people of this island numbered only 162,302. Forty years later, our population is now 70,000 more, at 232,000. Sure, the bed capacity of the hospital has risen in recent times, but only by placing beds along corridors and splitting private rooms into two. The Cua administration has modernized the diagnostic laboratory and renovated half of the ground floor that now resembles the lobby of a third-class hotel. But these are not enough.
Our current provincial leaders are putting their political capital on the line for a project that promises a healthier Catanduanes. They are unlike some of their kind who mouth the "Health is Wealth" mantra as lip service and to mean that there is money for their pockets in million-peso health projects. Let’s hope that Gov. Cua, Vice Gov. Aquino and the Sangguniang Panlalawigan will stay in the right direction.