BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—People would normally ask during an emergency, “Where have all the doctors gone?”
Such was the reaction of some people during the recent bus accident in nearby Nueva Ecija that killed 34 and injured 43 others.
It turned out that such question is a very serious problem at the Veterans Regional Hospital and other government hospitals here.
At the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital in Bambang town, which is nearer to the crash site, Dr. Edwin Galapon, the Provincial Health Officer of Nueva Vizcaya, arrived from his office at the Capitol to personally lend a hand to the physicians on duty led by Dr. Arlene Jara.
After administering first aid, survivors were rushed to the 200-bed capacity Veterans Regional Hospital – the Department of Health-designated Trauma Center and Blood Center in the region.
All government hospitals and rural health units of Nueva Vizcaya and the provinces of Quirino, Ifugao, and southern Isabela refer their patients to VRH for emergency and in-patient tertiary care.
Also, patients from private hospitals in Nueva Vizcaya, the Medical Mission Group Hospital and the PLT Hospital, refer their patients to VRH.
“In fact, before this accident, we are already setting up a nationwide caravan to recruit 102 doctors from all over the country,” says William Gurat, a nurse by profession who works as a human resource management specialist at the VRH.
“It is good you dropped by our office so you can help disseminate information that would convince doctors to work with us,” Gurat told Manila Standard.
A review of the document provided by the Human Resource Department of the hospital revealed that some job items for Medical Officer III and Medical Officer II were created way back in 1998. These were either not filled up or the incumbent has resigned.
The following are the open job items for doctors at the VRH: Medical Specialist IV (five full time and eight part-time needed), Medical Specialist III (eight fulltime and 10 part-time needed), Medical Officer IV (29 needed), Medical Officer III (25 needed), and Medical Specialist II (17 part-time needed).
During the boom of nursing careers abroad decades ago, several doctors in Nueva Vizcaya got a nursing degree just to get a chance to work in the United Kingdom or the United States, where salaries for medical professionals are higher.
Recently, a female doctor here was offered a position in a hospital in Saudi Arabia. She left the country with her entire family joining her in Riyadh, VRH officials said.
