By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Occidental Provincial Budget Officer Jose Percival Salado, who recently revealed the provincial government executive department proposed a P4.4 billion budget before the Provincial Board for 2020, recommended having district hospitals exempted from the personal services (PS) budget.
“There should be a congressional act to exempt government hospitals from the PS limitations,” he stated.
The provincial official claimed the local government is “caught in the middle,” between following guidelines set by the Department of Health and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) cap on personal services. He said, an exemption would allow them to “deliver quality health services to Negrenses.”
“Even if the provincial government will take away all the casual employees, we will still go over the limit this year,” Salado added.
Earlier, Negros Occidental Board Member Rita Gatuslao expressed concern over the lack of health personnel assigned at the district hospitals that have affected health services to the public.
Citing rising cases of dengue, African Swine Flu and polio, she said, “All these circumstances put to test the capabilities of our local healthcare units and services deliveries, we find ourselves in worse predicament as our public health facilities have been reporting a lack of manpower personnel since July and with worsening numbers,”
However, Salado said current policy impedes their ability to hire.
“We want to follow the review and recommendation of the DBM that disallowed the creation of new positions,” the provincial official explained. “We should not create additional permanent positions.”
“[The] personnel component depends on the hospital’s bed capacity,” he added. “The requirement directly runs in conflict with the DBM PS limitations.”/DGB, WDJ