MANILA: At least 1,000 government health workers yesterday staged a walkout to protest a plan to privatise state-owned hospitals.
The health workers left their stations during lunch break from noon to 1 p.m. to stage a rally in front of their respective hospitals to denounce the privatization of the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa and the Philippine Orthopedic Center in Quezon City.
Lovely Tanghal, media officer of the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), said they could not be appeased by pronouncements of the Department of Health that the privatization of hospitals would lead to the improvement of services and benefit patients.
“They are claiming that hospitals will not be privatized but some of its services like laboratories will be passed on to the private sector. Whichever way, it won’t be good to patients,” she said.
Tanghal added the private sector would not invest in hospitals if they would not have any financial gains.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona warned the government health workers that they could be suspended or dismissed from the service if they disrupt hospital operations.
“They cannot do that, they are government employees. If they want to do that, (do so) from noon to 1pm,” Ona said.
The Philippine star
