UP Kilos Na Condemns the Imposition of Charges on Previously Free Laboratory Procedures for Class D Patients of the Philippine General Hospital

July 16, 2013

UP Kilos Na supports the All-UP Workers Alliance and the Alliance of Health Workers in condemning the imposition of charges on previously free laboratory procedures for Class D patients of PGH and for adding new requirements to avail for free of succeeding examinations previously availed of free of charge. These changes are contained in the July 4, 2013 Memorandum of PGH Director Jose C. Gonzales with the subject: “Revised Rates of the Department of Laboratories.”

The memo details the “revised rates” for laboratory exams in PGH starting July 12, 2013. Prior to this issuance of the memorandum, 192 of 254 laboratory procedures/examinations were free for Class D patients of PGH. Now with the new policy, only 44 are free for the FIRST examinations. Payment for the succeeding examinations “maybe (underscoring ours) waived upon the recommendation of the Department Chair and the submission of the following documents for the purpose of requesting for a guarantee letter:

1. Clinical Abstract with a therapeutic plan and approximate cost of treatment
2. Personal letter of the patient or family to the congressman of his/her place of residence requesting for financial assistance. “

Class D patients in PGH are those whose monthly income is around or below the National Capital Region minimum wage rate.  Also included in Class D are those who are recent victims of fire, floods and other natural disaster and patients with chronic debilitating disease or catastrophic illness. In PGH’s charity wards and charity ICU, almost 98% of the patients are Class D.

PGH has already a system for the processing of a Class D category which is handled by its Medical Social Services Department (MSSD). It already takes a tremendous amount of time to line up for the various requirements to prove one’s abject poverty and to be categorized as Class D patient in PGH. The policy related to changes in the laboratory fees of PGH as contained in the memo clearly makes it more difficult for the poor to access the services of the PGH. This new policy will further add to the travails of our poor: request for reconsideration from the Chair of a PGH Department and a letter for financial assistance from the congressman or representative of his/her province.

The reduction of the number of free laboratory examinations for Class D patients and the additional requirements to avail of free service for succeeding examinations are being implemented at a time when the allocation for Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOE) of PGH has increased from P305.549 million in 2012 to over twice that amount to P616.903 million for 2013! This budget increase is partly due to the strong public support for the call and mobilization of the UP community for greater state subsidy for UP and PGH.

UP Kilos Na supported in 2010 the fight of Dr. Gonzales against his unjust ouster as PGH Director by the Roman Administration. The issue was principally against the violation of the principles of democratic governance of the Roman administration for unseating Dr. Gonzales who was democratically elected by the BOR and who had already taken his oath of office as Director. But UP Kilos Na support for Dr. Gonzales was his stand against the setting up of a private medical laboratory in the guise of providing clinics for PGH doctors inside the PGH compound.

In 2010, when a forum was held at the Philippine General Hospital on the proposed transformation of FMAB into a private facility run by the Daniel Mercado Medical Center, Dr. Jose Gonzales, then not holding any administrative position spoke against such move. A report by Krizia C. Borromeo of that meeting posted on September 28, 2010 on the MEDICS, the official student publication of the UP College of Medicine (http://www.upmedics.com/2010/09/pgh-privatization-will-fmab-bring-more.html, accessed 15 July 2013) quoted Dr. Gonzales as saying that “PGH is a service hospital for economically depressed patients who can’t afford to see private doctors.” Further, he is quoted as saying “May karapatan ang mahihirap. We should do our part to serve the people..kung hindi walang mangyayari. The public-private partnership will not solve the root cause of the problem—inefficiency.”

But now PGH Director Jose C. Gonzales considers free laboratory services to the poor inefficient and under the guise of “rationalization” and “efficiency” has in fact imposed charges on previously free availment of procedures and added bureaucratic layers to the process. While ostensibly this new policy is supposed to discourage PGH doctors from ordering unnecessary laboratory procedures for poor patients, it has in fact further shifted the burden to the poor patients who now have to pay or to beg for a waiver from the Department Chair. The memo came out in inopportune time when health inequalities in our society are becoming more blatant. The new policy only worsened the already unhealthy state of many of our society’s poor population, and trounced their right to health. Coupled with the increase in charges in the pay wards and private rooms of PGH, the “ospital ng bayan” is now trodding the path of private hospitals which are profit centers with charity patients.

UP Kilos Na condemns this betrayal of PGH Director Jose C. Gonzales of his promise to make PGH more accessible to the poor; to find ways to reduce the long lines faced by poor patients seeking PGH’s services and to stand up against commercialization of PGH such as the FMAB scheme of the previous PGH Administration. Instead under the guise of rationalization, increasing efficiency and preventing superfluous orders for laboratory examinations, he is now implementing a scheme of requiring poor patients to pay. Rather squeezing the poor of every ounce to recover costs, health care should be given to them for free! The brunt of state abandonment of our health care and services must not be passed on to the poor.

UP Kilos Na therefore urges PGH Director Jose C. Gonzales to rescind this discriminatory anti-poor policy. We call on administrators, faculty, and staff of PGH to forge strong solidarity with other progressive sectors of our society to clamor for higher health budget! Together we should stand to arrest the deteriorating health of our health services! The duty of health professionals is not just to save lives but to prevent the subjection of lives to contrived unhealthy and dehumanizing conditions!  

Health groups negotiate with DOH; protest the privatization of public hospitals

Press Release
July 15, 2013

References:

Dr. Julie Caguiat, NOP convenor, 0946-2278218

Mr. Jossel Ebesate, RN, AHW National President, 0918-9276381

Health workers, practitioners and community organizations under the Network Opposed to Privatization of Health Services (NOP) formally sought negotiations with Department of Health (DOH) Secretary Enrique Ona today to stop the privatization of public hospitals.

"This is not the first time we speak out against privatization of public hospitals. Still we are hoping DOH Secretary Ona will hear us out, in behalf of all the poor Filipino patients who are depending on our public hospitals for treatment. This is all about the health and lives of our people. We cannot just give up with this fight," said Dr. Julie Caguiat, convenor of NOP and Executive Director of Community Medicine Development Foundation.

Among those projects being protested by the group include the public-private partnership of Philippine Orthopedic Center, the sale of National Center for Mental Health, the proposed PPP projects in different hospitals nationwide, and corporatization of hospitals. The groups also raised questions on the proposed modern hospital complex in the DOH compound that will transfer the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, and supposedly "modernize" Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, and San Lazaro Hospital.

"We are for the improvement and development of public hospitals and health facilities, but this should be done by the government itself and be geared towards providing free, accessible and affordable health services especially for the poor.

“The Aquino government’s highly touted PPP program for public hospitals, which is just a sanitized name for privatization, is anathema and an abandonment of the government’s constitutional mandate to protect and promote the people’s right to health. The interest for insatiable profits by big business is in contradiction to the very essence of existence of public hospitals, which is to provide quality, affordable and accessible health services for all the people," said Jossel Ebesate, national president of Alliance of Health Workers.

Anti-privatization groups raised concerns that the entry of private investors in public hospitals and health services will further raise the cost of health services in public hospitals and displace poor patients.

“By letting private corporations take over public hospitals’ operations in the guise of “modernization, efficiency, and financial viability”, the government in effect has made profit instead of service as its priority. The much-touted Philhealth subsidy for the people cannot replace the state- run public health facilities and services,” Dr. Caguiat said.

Aside from NOP, other groups expressed opposition against the privatization of public hospitals and health services, including urban poor, workers, women, and most recently the church groups.#

Global Nurses United of Nurse, Healthcare Worker Unions was Born

Global Nurses United

For Immediate Release

References:

Mr. Kenneth S. Zinn

Political Director

National Nurses United

8630 Fenton Street

Suite 1100

Silver Spring, Maryland 20910

United States

Email: kzinn@nationalnursesunited.org

Tel: +1-(240) 235-2008

Fax: +1-(240) 235-2019

For the Philippines:

Mr. Jossel I. Ebesate, RN

National President

Alliance of Health Workers

Mobile:

Phils: +63-918-927-6381

US: +1-415-837-8154

Email: jiebesate@yahoo.com

Aims to Step Up Fight against Austerity, Privatization, Attacks on Public Health

And Work for Safe Nurse Staffing Ratios and Improved Patient Care for All

SAN FRANCISCO – Leaders of the premiere nurses and health care workers unions in 14 nations in the Americas, Asia, and Europe have announced plans to form a new international organization to step up the fight against the harmful effects of austerity measures, privatization, and cuts in health care services that they say are putting people and communities at risk across the planet.

Calling the new formation Global Nurses United, leaders of the initial endorsing countries said they would also work collectively to guarantee the highest standards of universal healthcare as a human right for all, to secure safe patient care, especially with safe nurse-to-patient ratios, and safe health care workplaces.

Endorsers of the San Francisco declaration included top nurse and health care worker unions from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, the Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States.

Leaders of the newly formed Global Nurses United

Pledging to work “together with all health care workers and other people committed to economic and social justice,” the leaders of Global Nurses United said they are also unified in opposition to the adverse effects of income inequality, poverty, mal distribution of wealth and resources, attacks on public workers, and the ravages of climate change.

As participants noted, there are international union formations of other sectors ranging from teachers to steel workers.  Now nurses have one as well, said enthusiastic GNU participants.

The founding meeting was hosted by National Nurses United, the largest U.S. union and organization of nurses, and chaired by NNU’s executive director RoseAnn DeMoro. “The unity and determination of nurse and healthcare worker unions to come together and push to protect all our people is a profound expression of how deeply the neoliberal agenda is coordinating and devastating countries and lowering standards worldwide,” DeMoro said.

"The trend of governments abdicating its inherent responsibility of providing basic services such as health care to its people in favor of big profits by big business must be stopped. It is now time that we, the health care workers all over the world, take the initiative and unite with all sectors of society in fighting against the anti-people neoliberal policy of privatization of health care.  Privatization kills people in the name of profits, it is in fact anathema to service to the people" said Mr. Jossel Ebesate, a delegate from the Philippines, and National President of Alliance of Health Workers in the Philippines.    

Taking action, the unions said, will be a major focus of Global Nurses United. GNU members said they will kick off the new organization with a series of protests in every member nation in September coinciding with the opening of the next session of the United Nations General Assembly. The focus of the actions will likely be austerity, privatization of health and other public services, and other attacks on health services, with specific actions and targets tailed to national priorities.

In the initial meeting June 22, participants in nearly every country described similar crises of erosion of health and other basic services and public protections, attacks on the rights, living standards, and even personal security of nurses and other workers.

In every nation the workers are in motion, challenging austerity measures imposed by conservative governments or globalized corporate assaults, with strikes and other major protests. With Global Nurses United, the unions said they will be able to better coordinate such actions, provide international solidarity, and offer each other support and assistance.

As the participants said in their opening declaration, “We, the leaders of international nurses and healthcare unions affirm our intention to work collectively to protect our professions, our patients, our communities, our work, our health, our environment, and our planet.”

Representatives of the following unions participating in the initial GNU meeting:

Argentina –  FESPROSA

Australia – Australian Nursing Federation, ANF Victoria Branch, New South Wales Nurses and Midwives Association, Queensland Nurses Union

Brazil – Sindicato dos Enfermeiros, Sindicato dos Enfermeiros of São Paulo

Canada – Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, United Nurses of Alberta, Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec

Costa Rica – Associacion Nacional de Profesionalies en Enfermeria

Dominican Republic – Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de Enfermeria

Guatemala – Sindicato Nacional de los Trabadores de Salud de Guatemala

Honduras – Asociation Nacional de Enfermeras/os Auxiliares de Honduras

Ireland – Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation
Israel – National Association of Nurse

Philippines – Alliance of Health Workers

South Africa – Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa

South Korea – Korean Health and Medical Workers Union,  Catholic Medical Center Local Union, Korean Health and Medical Workers Union

United States – National Nurses United

Nurses' Declaration of San Francisco, June 22, 2013

Nurse Leaders from 13 countries in 6 continents who signed the declaration

We, the leaders of international nurses and healthcare unions affirm our intention to work collectively to protect our professions, our patients, our communities, our work, our health, our environment, and our planet.

To achieve these goals we declare the formation of Global Nurses United working together with all healthcare workers and other people committed to economic and social justice.

We are dedicated to international solidarity, support, and assistance around the following principles:

•  We oppose the harmful effects on our nations, our people, and our communities of globalization, neo-liberal policies, austerity, poverty, income inequality and mal distribution of wealth and resources, attacks on public workers, and climate change.
• We will resist the privatization of our public health systems and cuts in health care services.
• We will assist the efforts of nurses in all of our countries to secure safe care for all patients with safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and a safe workplace.
• We pledge our commitment for governments to guarantee the highest standards of universal health care as a fundamental, human right for all.

Nurses and health care unions from the following initial countries expressed their support to the declaration: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Israel, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States

Manggagawang Pangkalusugan maging Mapagbantay! Paglilipat ng Fabella Hospital, Tiyaking para sa Kapakanan ng Mamamayan

Photo credits to Dr. Iggy Agbayani

Sa June 11, 2013 nakatakda ang pre-bid conference para sa pagtatayo ng bagong building ng Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital. Nabigo ang naunang bidding nito noong Marso. Itatayo ang 9-palapag na building sa loob ng DOH compound. P750 milyon ang nakalaan para dito mula sa pambansang badyet ayon mismo sa Department of Health.

Ano ang kaugnayan ng bagong building ng Fabella sa kabuuang planong corporatization at Public Private-Partnership (PPP) ng mga pampublikong ospital? Ano ang kaugnayan nito sa integration ng tri-hospital complex ng Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital, at Fabella? Ito ba ay naayon sa implementasyon ng Executive Order 366 o Restructuring and Streamlining of National Bureaucracy?

Kinokorporatisa na ang Western Visayas Medical Center (Iloilo), habang nasa bidding ang PPP ng Philippine Orthopedic Center. Nakaamba ang korporatisasyon ng 26 pampublikong ospital sa buong bansa.

Tama lang na ayusin at imodernisa ng pamahalaan ang pasilidad ng ospital sapagkat responsibildad ito ng pamahalaan. Ngunit ito ay dapat magsilbi para sa kapakanan at kagalingan ng pasyente at mamamayan, hindi para pagkakitaan at pagkamalan ng malaking tubo ng malaking negosyo.

Ano ang implikasyon nito sa serbisyong pangaklusugan at pasyente ng Fabella? Matitiyak ba ang security of tenure ng mga manggagawang pangkalusugan? Nakakapag-alala ang pananahimik ng DOH sa usaping ito.

Huwag tayong magsawalang-kibo, huwag tayong magwalang-bahala. Maging mapanuri at mapagbantay! Ipaglaban ang kalusugan at kapakanan ng pasyente at manggagawang pangkalusugan.

Tutulan at labanan ang pribatisasyon ng serbisyong pangkalusugan!

Ipaglaban ang sapat na badyet para sa mga pampublikong ospital!

Ipaglaban ang abot-kaya at libreng serbisyong pangkalusugan!