CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The city government-run J.R. Borja General Hospital (JRBGH) vowed to act on all complaints they received or saw on social media, especially about the alleged rude attitude from its staff, as it would be a huge help to improve its services.

THE city government-run J.R. Borja General Hospital in Barangay Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City. (City Information Office)

JRBGH chief of hospital Dr. Ferdinand Miranda said they have a grievance panel that would accommodate the complaints.

It would call the attention of the staff involved and ensure the conduct of an investigation to determine all the facts. “Some were true, but some were too much. So, we should not immediately believe what was posted there because we need to confirm what we saw on social media,” Miranda said during a media forum on Wednesday, January 3.

The JRBGH hospital chief said employees can be terminated from their jobs if their rude behavior leads to maltreatment of patients.

On September 16, 2023, a lady netizen ranted on Facebook about JRBGH and sought justice after the hospital allegedly put her child on dextrose five hours from the time the child was admitted. The lady netizen added that the dextrose was given after a series of follow-ups.

She also wrote what a nurse allegedly said to her husband. “Excuse me, I’m busy. Hulate lang ninyo na matawagan mo (Just wait when you are called),” the nurse said to the husband of the netizen who added that there were some nurses who have a bad attitude.

The social media post had over 1,300 reactions and had been shared by over 5,000 Facebook users. Many netizens also commented on the same post, expressing their own bad experiences with the hospital staff.

Miranda said the not-ideal nurse-to-patient ratio could be one of the possible reasons for this attitude as some nurses are tired and no longer have the willingness to smile. “But we are trying our best, we asked and reminded them that despite the tiredness, we should showcase the right behavior,” Miranda said.

DR. Ferdinand Miranda, chief of hospital of the J.R. Borja General Hospital, answers questions from the media after the Meet the Press program of the Cagayan de Oro Press Club on January 3. (Franck Dick Rosete)

Miranda said in the JRBGH, the nurse-to-patient ratio is one nurse to 20 or 30 patients (1:20 or 1:30), which is beyond the ideal of 1:12, according to the prevailing guidelines of the Department of Health. The Level 2 175-bed hospital has been serving more or less 400 to 500 patients.

In addition, he said that they do triage services at JRBGH, where they first identify the cases of each patient and prioritize individuals who have severe cases and need immediate medical attention.

Miranda said there were patients who were willing to wait outside their nine-bed capacity emergency room due to the lack of beds.

To resolve this problem, they are set to build a 150-bed emergency room on the second floor of the existing ER which will be turned into a 30-bed trauma center, formulated after their benchmarking in the different hospitals in the country.

Miranda said they already applied with the Department of Health, hoping that they will acquire the permit to construct within this month or in the next month.