DOH-6 suspends deployment of rural doctors to Cebu City

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

 

The deployment of 39 doctors from Western Visayas to Cebu City, the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) hotspot in the country, is temporarily suspended, the Department of Health-Center for Health Development Western Visayas (DOH-CHD 6) announced on Monday.

Dr. Marlyn Convocar, DOH-CHD 6 regional director, said they will first settle some issues before proceeding with the deployment.

“Deployment will be temporarily held in abeyance until issues and concerns are settled with all concerned physicians and other stakeholders,” Convocar said in a press conference on Monday.

In a letter addressed to Department of Health (DOH) Usec. Abdulah Dumama Jr. on June 26, the DOH-CHD 6 said it will be deploying four batches of medical teams as augmentation to the human resources for health in Cebu City responding to the increasing cases of Covid-19.

According to Convocar, the move is in response to the directives of the DOH Central Office through Memorandum dated June 26 with the subject, “Authority to deploy medical teams to augment human resources for health in Region 7.” It enjoined the Western Visayas Region to initiate immediate deployment of medical teams for the region

“In response, DOH-CHD 6 has identified physicians under the Doctor-to-the-Barrios (DTTB) and Post Residency Deployment Program (PRDP) composed of 10 medical doctors per team in four batches with a total of 39 medical doctors consisting of 25 DTTBs and 14 PRDPs,” she said.

The deployment was supposed to commence from June 29 to September 5, 2020.

“Each batch shall render 14-day duty and 14-day mandatory quarantine period,” Convocar said.

The health department said the identified doctors for deployment were Rural Health Physicians (RHPs), which means that their respective municipalities will not be left doctor-less and health care services will continue.

But the DDTBs, particularly Batches 36-ALAB and 37-MANDALA, opposed the deployment to Cebu.

The group issued a statement strongly condemning the directive of the health department reiterating that the involved doctors have not been suitably informed through writing.

They said there was no proper consultation with the stakeholders prior to the directive and no detailed guidelines and protocols to protect the doctors in this temporary reassignment.

“The absence of proper communication, justifying the temporary reassignment of rural health physicians serving in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas (GIDAs) to serve in private hospitals in Cebu City is a clear violation of the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers.”

But according to Convocar, the first batch of the Medical Team was called to a meeting on June 26, to discuss compliance with the directive.

“As a result, the team has not expressed their non-occurrence to the order and manifested some concerns to be considered by the management. Communication was sent to their local chief executives (LCEs) on the same day. Coordination was undertaken with the group to convey updates on the deployment arrangements,” Convocar said.

Several issues were expressed via social media platforms but there was no formal understanding during the weekend until Monday when members of the first batch of the medical team personally expressed their concern to the CHD Director.

“We really comply with the order of Central Office. I cannot decide on my own. If we see fit that there are reasons to suspend operation, I will raise it to the health secretary,” Convocar said.

Until all the issues are resolved, the health department said that the suspension on their deployment will remain.