The normal is patients are sick, not the hospital.
But Eastern Visayas Medical Center (EVMC) is sick, devoured from the inside by a cancer in leadership.
Last January, Department of Health Secretary Teodoro Herbosa ordered the transfer of the EVMC chief Dr. Salvador Evardone to Adela Serra Ty Memorial Hospital in Surigao del Norte.
The same order designated Dr. Joseph Michael Jaro to head EVMC, replacing Dr. Evardone.
Dr. Evardone, however, refused to honor the order of his boss and moved to appeal the order of the secretary of DOH before the Civil Service Commission.
Confusion followed, and hospital employees faced a leadership crisis, where they had two bosses to follow, one given the authority from the DOH secretary and the other, hiding from the clout of the Civil Service Commission, invoking due process.
The DOH regional office intervened, its information officer, Jelyn Malibago, saying the appeal is being respected and the status quo in the hospital leadership stays, meaning Evardone is still the hospital chief, to the displeasure of the workers association.
Fast to the draw, elements loyal to Evardone mounted a signature campaign, issuing support for Evardone’s retention.
This pro-Evardone signature campaign was immediately shut down Eastern Visayas Medical Center Employees Association (EVMCEA), its officers saying the group is bogus at worst and unauthorized at best.
“The EVMCEA has not authorized, endorsed, or initiated any campaign of this nature, nor has it given consent for the collection of signatures or lodging of appeals pertaining to this issue,” the EVMCEA statement said.
DOH Central moved in, reversing DOH region’s stand favoring Evardone, and installed Jaro as the new chief of EVMC last March 8, to the relief of workers’ concerns on the leadership crisis while recognizing the “justice has been served in this final act of the DOH secretary.”
Three division heads, involved in finance management, resigned fueling speculations that these officials were worried about getting investigated in the management change.
Jaro, however, doused speculations of misdeeds of these officials, explaining that the resignations were due to personal reasons like old age and change in private priorities. Many, however, expressed disbelief, claiming some parties are afraid of an investigation that the same parties insist should be done.
Reports have it that hospital workers were not happy with Evardone’s type of management.
EVMCEA president Dr. Marion Acuin, M.D., explained the sentiments of his members. Health Emergency Allowance (HEA) was almost always late in release.
Allegations of corruption have haunted the hospital management from the time Dr. Evardone took over in 2018.
Dr. Acuin said Evardone failed to do anything for the hospital since his installation in 2018 until 2022. “Many infra projects to improve facilities remain unfinished,” he explained.
The worst is the fact that the hospital lost its “Philhealth sharing” also called medicare.
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