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CEBU CITY, Philippines - The University of San Carlos (USC) has asked the Cebu city government to appraise the value of the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) property in case it gets sold.
Cebu city administrator Francisco “Bimbo” Fernandez said the city received a letter from USC on Tuesday seeking an appraisal.
Another school, the College of Technological Sciences - Cebu, wrote the mayor much earlier expressing interest in buying the hospital for use as a training base hospital for its nursing students.
The USC, meanwhile, is conducting a “due diligence” study on the hospital as authorized by the city to see if they will pursue their interest.
Fernandez said the interest was exploratory.
“They are still conducting a study. Mura na silag mag-uyab pa ba na tan-awn sa if maka-uyon ba sila or dili. As of now they are still expressing interest,” Fernandez said on a phone interview.
“We have complete documents for the hospital and the fact that it is being used by schools as training grounds, I wouldn't be surprised by the interest,” Fernandez said.
However, if the city decides to actually sell the hospital, approval would have to be sought from the City Council and the Commission on Audit, and a public bidding would be held, he said.
Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña earlier said he was looking into alternative health services for the poor because he was “fed up” with the CCMC ‘s inefficiency.
“To me almost anything is better than this. There is no future in CCMC. I cannot see, given the dismal performance of the CCMC, how they can serve the premier city ten years from now,” Osmeña said.
On Tuesday, it was the turn of his wife Margot Osmeña to give a testimonial about her sad experience with the hospital.
The day before, the mayor presented the wife of Cebu city councilor Edwin Jagmoc.
Margot said she seldom goes to City Hall to answer issues but she wanted to show the need to entertain the possibility of privatizing CCMC.
“It is not to throw people who do not have money and have no choice back to the streets. It is a way of reaching out more to them and give the services that they deserve,” Margot said.
According to her, many people would not go to CCMC if they had a choice because of the poor services there.
“There are many good people in CCMC (nurses, doctors and staff). I don’t know if the bad eggs are just the ones who come out...but it just happens too often...it’s sad,” Margot said.
She said there have been opportunities for the CCMC to improve but they were not taken seriously by the management. /Reporter Marian Z. Codilla
