OVERCHARGING AND MOONLIGHTING DOCTORS – Second District Board Member Raul Sison has an expose involving some doctors and a popular hospital in Dagupan City.

He phoned me in to relay his concern about a licensed sentensyador (judge in a cockfight) whose right wrist was injured by a tari and needed a surgical operation. His license came from the Games and Amusement Board, Bokal Raul said.

He sent him to the hospital around 5:50 p.m. Wednesday and was brought to the operating room. At 3:07 p.m. the following day, or less than 24-hour stay in the hospital, the patient, who is close to Bokal Raul, was billed P176, 917.18!

Bokal Raul paid the bill.

But the story does not stop there.

One doctor charged P44,600. Another charged P50,400. Another doctor charged P46,300. Others were for medicine and other expenses.

But wait, another doctor was paid P5,000 but the billing stated “Not seen”. Ay, may mooomooo na doktor?

“Hindi ho nakita, hindi pumunta pero sumingil ng P5,000,” he said.

“May resibo kaya itong mga doctor na ito?,” Bokal Raul wondered.

He asked, “P176,000 sa isang nasugatan ng tari?”

He said he will not coordinate with the hospital management. “Hindi ako makikipag-usap sa kanila. Ako ay galit sa kanila,” he stressed.

He said he will deliver a privilege speech on Monday and will ask for a Question Hour and invite the concerned doctors and shed light on the case.

“We are not destroying the image of a hospital. Pag ako ang pupunta sa ospital na yan baka hindi ako magamot, kundi mamamatay ako sa laki ng babayaran ko,” Bokal Raul said.

The issue here is not about the doctors’ fees alone.

Bokal Raul said two of the doctors that billed were allegedly government doctors, meaning they are employed with the government but were moonlighting in that private hospital. As of Friday, he already made initial verification about the status of employment of the two doctors involved.

He vowed to pursue necessary case against them.

OMG. Talagang galit si Bokal at masagasaan na ang masasagasaan. That’s his promise.

Basta walang pulitika at personalan yan Sir, ah. Trabaho lang.— Eva Visperas

 

NEW CRITERIA FOR BEST BARANGAY – No doubt, the search for model barangays in Dagupan City will inspire the 31 barangays in the city to strive harder to achieve excellence so that they can deliver services to their respective constituents more efficiently.

We saw this coming after Dagupan City, under Mayor Belen Fernandez, bagged its third Seal of Good Governance from the Department of Interior and Local Government. There is a need to also recognize and give credit to the performing barangays in all aspects of governance.

The criteria should not only be limited to the state of peace and order in the community but also on how well each village government is responding to the needs of the people that they serve.

Note that it was only last Friday, Nov. 24, when the last of the 31 barangays of the city–Barangay II and III– was declared clear of illegal drugs, a week after Pugaro was drug-cleared.

Many wondered why it took these two barangays to be finally cleared of illegal drugs.

Did the barangay officials in these villages use kid gloves to contain activities of pushers and users in their respective turfs? Or did they really face serious obstacles beyond their control that prevented them from clearing their villages earlier.

With the search, the barangays will be rated in all aspects similar to the criteria that DILG used when it decided on presenting to Dagupan its unprecedented third SGLG.

Of course, it’s unlikely that they will let their villages slide back to the old dark days when drug peddlers and pushers, including drunkards, huddled in dark alleys in their communities.

Apart from measuring the gains of the villages in the campaign vs. illegal drugs and peace and order, the search should also focus on health, sanitation and cleanliness, or on how the barangays are managing their respective material recovery facilities, consistency in implementing their own ordinances as well as of the city, level of impact of accomplished programs and projects and preparations for disasters.

They, too, must have sound bookkeeping of financial records and, most importantly, no indication of graft and corrupt practices.

We heard that if this initial search succeeds, it will be institutionalized by an ordinance already filed in the city council by Councilor Maybelyn Fernandez, establishing the country’s very first Barangay Seal of Good Governance in Dagupan City.

That draft ordinance would have been already referred to the proper committees had the Sangguniang Panlungsod mustered a quorum in their regular session last Nov. 20. There were only Councilor Jose Netu Tamayo and Maybelyn in the hall.

Let’s have that draft ordinance passed soon.  –  Leonardo Micua

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