BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Local government units that accepted the management of two hospitals in northern Negros are expected to earn, if they successfully manage the facilities, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said yesterday.
The provincial government of Negros Occidental turned over the management of Calatrava Municipal Hospital to the local government and the Vicente Gustilo District Hospital to the city government of Escalante, as approved by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Negros Occidental last week.
“I am confident that if those two LGUs successfully run these hospitals and actually make an income, maybe other LGUs that have hospitals might also request for the same,” Lacson said.
He stressed that the idea of turning over the management of hospitals to LGUs is not new, and that they have done it in the cities of San Carlos, Sagay and Bago.
“If it is managed very well, it can actually increase their local revenues. So, we are giving them the opportunity,” Lacson said.
Asked about the status of the provincial government employees assigned at the two hospitals, Lacson said “it will be the call of the LGUs” if they will be absorbed.
On the part of the provincial government, Lacson said it will lower their cost, especially on Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses and Personnel Services.
But Lacson stressed that the provincial government will continue to maintain the Teresita Lopez Jalandoni Provincial Hospital in Silay City.
There are 11 government-managed district hospitals in Negros Occidental.
Board Member Araceli Somosa, chairperson of the SP Committee on Health, and former mayor of Calatrava, said the turnover of the hospitals also aims to help the provincial government comply with the limitations set by the Department of Budget and Management on Personal Services to just 45 percent. Somosa said that the DBM issued adverse findings on previous budgets of the provincial government in the past five years, because they went beyond the DBM cap.*
