by Prix D Banzon

Davao City (10 July) -- The Davao Medical Center (DMC) considers "accessibility and equity" as their guide in implementing and delivering health services.

DMC chief of hospital Leopoldo J. Vega said they make sure that the marginalized sector could be given the right kind of services and attention they need.

He said that patients even with limited resources can access to the services offered by DMC.

Vega also said that they are changing the paradigm especially of their health providers saying that "the doctor is no longer the king in this hospital, the customer is the king".

"This way we got to listen to what their complains are," he said.

Guided with standard protocol in terms of treatment, he said the poor are given the desired treatment they want.

Vega said that even if they improve their other facilities like the Kidney Center and the Hearth Center separately, it must always be their policy that the marginalized sector could access to these services

He said they are trying to come up with better system, even if they operate over their capacity of only 400 bed hospital.

Going back to the early years of the DMC operation, he said patients that access the hospital for treatment belong to the C- and D social strata.

But now, he said they have patients that belong to the bracket of C+, C-, D and even B because the cost of health care nowadays is expensive as well as medicines.

DMC is the cheapest in town although he said that they only have 28 private wards but still the pay is minimal. The rest of the beds are wards and charities and they do not get as much income as the private wards.

The DMC in 2007 served a total patient of 275,000 and their emergency unit was able to serve some 90,000 last year.