The Eastern Bicol Medical Center is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month with a series of activities that ends this Friday, Sept. 16, 2022, with a Fellowship Night at the Convention Center.
Centered on the theme “EBMC! Padagos ang pagtabang sa gabos,” the celebration began last Sept. 5 with the opening of the “1-EBMC: Go for Gold Sports Fest” followed by the formal launch on Sept. 12 at the hospital grounds.
After the concelebrated Mass at the lobby, officials and employees participated in the blessing of the new Out-Patient Department (OPD) building, the opening of the anniversary programme and the bazaar and trade fair on the grounds, and the unveiling of the EBMC Gallery at the lobby.
Free massage and haircut were provided by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to hospital employees. The other events included Zumba in the afternoon and the Laro ng Lahi Filipino games.
Since 1972, the health institution has been the apex hospital of Catanduanes and serves about 25,000 in-and-out patients every year, with 80 percent of them belonging to the indigent population.
They are served by a total of 307 regular and job order employees who have worked hard to help their fellow Catandunganons in need of affordable health care services, the EBMC management said.
In a press conference last week, Chief of Hospital II Dr. Vietrez David-Abella disclosed that the hospital has plans to offer new services as it recently added three new medical specialists to its roster – a psychiatrist, a neurologist for brain and spinal cord diseases, and an endocrinologist for kidney ailments.
This is aside from a pediatrician, a visiting cardiologist and a surgeon who have agreed to be hired on job-order basis, she said.
Last year, the hospital prioritized the creation of two items for medical specialist, allowing two senior medical officers to be promoted to the vacant posts and the hiring of an additional radiologist with CT-scan training.
“Actually, kulang kami pagdating sa doctor, kasi po ang sabi ng DOH in one 24-hour period meron diyan laging tao for specialization, basic ‘yung internist for adult diseases, may pediatrician, may OB-Gyne ‘yung nagpapaanak, may surgeon ‘yung nag-oopera, dapat laging kumpleto ‘yan,” Dr. Abella said.
EBMC has only two specialists in each area so after they have gone on duty for eight hours, they would still be on call during the night,” she added.
As far as nurses are concerned, we should have at least four nurses per nursing unit but we usually have one per shift, instead of the required three in case of the OB ward which have 36 patients at times, Abella bared.
With the help of the provincial government, the hospital has 20 job order nurses, who naturally receive lower remunerations compared to the regular nurses, with five more casual nurses to be deployed to EBMC.
All in all, around 250 job order employees have been detailed to the hospital by the provincial government and they include nurses, medical technologists, doctors, nursing aides and administrative aides.
The hospital chief said that with the plan of the Catanduanes State University to open new courses in medicine and medical technology, the management is pushing to improve EBMC’s accreditation with the Department of Health (DOH) as a Level 3 hospital, from the present Level 2, in order to accommodate a higher range of services and accept teaching and training programs.
“Kung magiging teaching and training hospital tayo, hindi na tayo mauubusan ng manpower, second yung effect niyan sa ekonomiya. Kung meron kang med school dito, we have more services dito, meron yan more impact sa economy ng Virac maging sa buong isla,” she stressed.
Since the EBMC was converted into an economic enterprise, something good which came out of it was that we were able to determine the income and expenditures of the hospital as its budget has been separated from the provincial government, Abella said.
“2019 was a banner year for EBMC as we were able to earn out budget of P120 million and pay the salaries and benefits of our employees from our income,” she pointed out.
The pandemic, however, resulted in lower income so the hospital management faced difficulties in sourcing out the personnel expenditures considering the mandated salary increases.
Dr. Abella recalled that when she came in, the salaries of the permanent employees were frequently delayed and this was worked out by making the process of PhilHealth reimbursements more efficient,
As a result, the PhilHealth claims which are divided by the employees raise their morale while awaiting the release of their salaries.
On the establishment of the dialysis center, several EBMC staff are now training at Las Pinas General Hospital, upon completion of which the management will comply with the DOH licensing requirements.
“Hopefully, we will be done before the end of the year as the machines are already installed,” the hospital chief said, adding that the licensing process needs to be carefully done prior to rolling out the service to the people.
She announced that EBMC is one of the recipients of a DOH grant for a very modern technology to treat hospital waste.
“We are planning to buy a CT-scan kasi every day we send out around five patients for CT-scan tapos ibang services,” she said further.
Under the Gender and Development Program of the province, the hospital will be offering laboratory and check-up services for permanent employees under the Good Wellness Program.
“Kami dito sa EBMC patuloy na kumikilos para maibigay ang magandang serbisyo,” Dr. Abella stated. “Kung kailangan kayong pumunta sa EBMC para magpa-konsulta o ma-admit, huwag mag-atubili, pumunta lamang po kayo at magdala ng mga kakailanganins mga papeles tulad ng indigency para maka-avail ng services ng ating Malasakit Center.”