On March 13, a fire reaching second alarm started in the audio-visual room of the Medicine Department of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), reportedly affecting 200 patients including Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients.
Faulty electrical wiring was the most likely cause of the incident.
Then on April 21, another fire broke out from the storage room of the hospital leading to the evacuation of at least 140 patients from the emergency room.
A doctor reported to the Philippine Daily Inquirer that the fire alarm at the emergency room did not work.
Electrical issues were the most likely cause again.
Fortunately, no deaths were reported in both fire incidents.
But still, the trouble and possibly trauma health workers and patients had to go through mirrors the state of healthcare in the country.
Budget woes
Take note that some of these evacuated patients were not ordinary patients as they were very sick and needed urgent care from the ICU and ER.
The hospital which has 1,100 beds and 400 private beds serves more than 600,000 patients every year, many of them belonging to the poorest of the poor.
The PGH, whose budget falls under the University of the Philippines System took a budget cut, from P5.41 billion last year to P4.96 billion this year.
The Medical Assistance for Indigent Patients (MAIP) was also slashed by more than P194 million.
MAIP is a budget allocated to support patients who struggle to afford medical care.
PGH was also given P260 million this year to procure a fire suppression system for its Central Block but the formal procurement process has yet to start.
“As of writing, however, no notice in the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System has been posted to call for bidders for PGH’s Central Block fire suppression and detection system. Likewise, UP Manila and PGH have posted neither an invitation to bid nor a notice of award for the proposed fire suppression system project on their procurement website ,” the UP official organ Philippine Collegian reported in an article dated March 29.
Band-aid solutions?
Following the fire incidents, Senator Jinggoy Estrada proposed Senate Bill No. 2634 seeking to increase the hospital’s bed capacity to 2,200 to accommodate more patients and hiring additional workforce.
The recent fire incidents that hit the hospital have made us realize the sorry state of PGH. Katulad ng libo-libong kababayan natin na umaasa sa serbisyo ng PGH, na karamihan ay mga indigent patients, nangangailangan na rin ang PGH ng agarang atensyon ng Kongreso at pamahalaan,” Estrada said.
Also despite budget cuts, PGH received a P2.08 billion allocation for the construction of the Pediatric and Adult Specialty Center, Training Center, and dormitory for healthcare workers.
It seems that the government is fine with health workers carrying their supposed to be jobs for a working healthcare system in the country without actually doing anything more than band-aid solutions and promised solutions.
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