Closure of 10 hospitals:
Aggrieving the masses in Isabela

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

More than 430,000 people in Isabela will be further deprived of primary health services with the impending closure of 10 small public hospitals in the province. Through Memorandum No. 6, Series 2002, the provincial government has ordered the "merger" of the 10 hospitals with district hospitals supposedly due to lack of funds. This is a preliminary step towards the eventual privatization of the hospitals.

The hospitals service more than 260 remote barangays (see table). Their closure will mean that residents, mostly farmers, will have to travel farther should they need medical attention. In the case of Dinapigue, the next nearest hospital is in the town of Palanan, an hour and a half by sea.

The provincial government of Isabela claims that the measure is necessary for the modernization of health services in the province. The need for specialization and modern equipment can supposedly be addressed only if the scarce funds are poured in for the purpose.

The provincial chapter of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW) has criticized such a rationale because it deviates from the current needs of the majority of Isabela residents. The AHW said that what the vast majority of the people needed was primary health care. The social services reaching farmers in the province, limited and backward as they are, will now be completely cut off, according to the Danggayan dagiti Mannalon ti Isabela (DAGAMI), a provincial peasant organization.

Aside from the patent neglect of the farmers� health, the closure of the 10 hospitals will also result in the termination of the hospitals� workers.

The lack of funds being used as a rationale by the province of Isabela for the closure and planned privatization of the 10 hospitals is due to the reactionary government�s abandonment of its responsibility to provide health care to the people.

The national government implemented the devolution of the delivery of health service supposedly to bring it closer to the people. Such responsibility was passed on to local governments. But just as what the provincial government of Isabela is now doing, devolution has only rendered health care even more inaccessible to the majority of the people.

DAGAMI and AHW jointly oppose the closure of the 10 hospitals. In April, more than 250 people, including doctors and other health workers marched towards the provincial capitol of Isabela. In response, provincial governor Faustino Dy Jr. suspended 13 doctors who joined the march. Those who opposed the move were threatened, pressured and branded as communists.

August 2002
English Edition

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