TACLOBAN CITY – The Ormoc City government has ordered the closure of the nearly century-old Ormoc Maternity and Children’s Hospital, citing multiple violations of its memorandum of agreement with the local government, Mayor Lucy Torres Gomez said in a statement on Monday.

Gomez said the closure stemmed from the hospital’s failure to fulfill its core obligation under the agreement: To serve indigent mothers and children of Ormoc as a civic and charitable institution.

In exchange for providing free or subsidized medical services to the city’s poorest residents, the hospital was allowed to lease a city-owned space for a nominal fee of P1,000 per month.

“However, what effectively happened was a hospital using the space, almost for free, yet it was run like a personal business, forgetting that such a low rental came with the responsibility of serving the community by offering certain services for free to indigent residents of Ormoc,” Gomez added.

The city government also flagged the hospital’s failure to submit required reports detailing how indigent patients were identified, what services were provided beyond Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and other government assistance, and other data needed to assess compliance.

Despite repeated requests following complaints from patients and their families, the hospital submitted documents that officials said were unrelated and insufficient.

Further review of the submitted documents revealed discrepancies between the hospital’s declared income and the income reported for tax purposes to the city government, raising additional concerns over financial transparency, according to the mayor.

Compounding these issues, the hospital was found to have subleased the city-owned space to another party for P10,000 per month without the knowledge or consent of the local government, an act the city described as a clear breach of its lease agreement.

“The city of Ormoc will not tolerate such abuses by a private institution that was given a very generous lease agreement in exchange for serving indigent mothers and children,” Gomez said, stressing that the closure was necessary to protect public interest and enforce accountability.

The hospital has reportedly been operating for 97 years.

Its management has yet to respond to the closure order. (PNA)