TACLOBAN CITY – Even as full operation and control has already been given to the local government of Kananga of the Kananga Municipal Hospital, the said facility would still be receiving financial aid from its former possessor – the provincial government of Leyte.
With this, the hospital fully turned over to the Kananga LGU in September received anew financial assistance from the province amounting to P875, 000 for the third quarter of this year.
According to Kananga Mayor Elmer Codilla, though the province has relinquished its management and operation of the former community hospital, the provincial government through Gov. Carlos Jericho Petilla has committed to provide assistance to the hospital for a period of five years, which at such point would be enough time for the LGU to be financially stable for its operations.
To recall, after many negotiations and convincing from the governor this year, Mayor Codilla finally gave his nod for the LGU to handle the management of the said community hospital against the alternative option of full closure since the said facility has not been earning much to support its own operations.
“We looked for means to continue the operation of the hospital so that we can still provide a decent health facility for people from the western part of the province,” Mayor Codilla said.
It was learned the KMH gets an average of 46 patients a day and on peak days such as Mondays, patients can number up to 98 a day.
In 1991, the government introduced a major devolution of national government services, which included the first wave of health sector reform through the introduction of the Local Government Code of 1991. The Code devolved basic services to include health services, among others, to local government units.
With the devolution of health services to LGUs, provincial governments oversee provincial and district hospitals, while the municipal governments manage rural health units (RHUs) and barangay (village) health stations.
During his first term, Gov. Petilla implemented a hospital improvement plan to make the district hospitals under the province’s wings independent and self-sustaining; however, some of these hospitals remain non-performing costing the province more by subsidizing its operations.
For some LGUs, the decentralization process have been favorable, especially those LGUs which are resource-rich.
Gov. Petilla said closing the hospitals, however, weighed heavily in the government’s thrust to provide health care especially with 70% of the community hospitals clientele belonging to the low-income level.
Aside from turning over the community hospital to the Kananga LGU, the provincial government has also provided it with a financial assistance of P3.5 million to rehabilitate some of its existing facilities and services. (AHLETTE C. REYES)
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