VSMMC sends more docs to upland brgys

• Source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cebu/local-news/2016/12/02/vsmmc-sends-more-docs-upland-brgys-513049
• Saturday, December 3, 2016

By Razel V. Cuizon

TO provide more accessible health services to people in upland areas, the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) has provided additional doctors to Guba Community Hospital.

The doctors, who are under the Department of Family and Community Medicine of VSMMC, are tasked to entertain health cases in the out-patient department of the Cebu City Government-operated hospital in Guba.

Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) worked on the project after seeing the need to provide immediate medical treatment for mountain barangay residents.

“We need all the help for complete medical services in Guba especially in times of emergency cases where time is of the essence,” del Mar said.

Half an hour

At present, when there are emergency cases in the mountain barangays, residents have to run to the nearest hospital, which is the North General Hospital.

Residents in Barangay Lusaran, one of the farthest upland villages in the north, need at least half an hour to travel to the hospital.

Del Mar signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with VSMMC, which was represented by Dr. Gerardo Aquino, the hospital’s chief.

VSMMC started providing out-patient medical services in the area last Thursday.

Diagnose

Under the MOA, on-duty doctors will perform physical examination on patients, diagnose their condition and provide direct counseling for a treatment plan.

They will also prescribe medication, perform minor surgeries and arrange for referrals for patients requiring services not offered there.

Advantageous

The program is advantageous on their part, Aquino said, since it will help decongest VSMMC.

“It will lessen the number of our patients because it’s like you’re already bringing the services there,” he said.

Mayor Tomas Osmeña thanked del Mar for the program.

He said he wants more people to be involved in Guba since during the previous years, about P12 million for medicines for Guba was not spent.