On the 26th anniversary of the bloody Mendiola Massacre under then President Corazon Aquino, militant urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) will start a series of protests leading to the Pre-Bid Conference of the Modernization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center (MPOC) on January 25, which according to the group will lead to no less than a massacre of its indigent patients.
The MPOC is among the priority Public-Private Partnership projects of the Aquino administration, which entered its bidding process in November last year. Once the PPP Center and the Department of Health found an investor to finance the P5.7-B privatization project, a modern yet private orthopedic center is expected to be built as early as July 2013 to replace the existing public orthopedic center. The new hospital will ne operated by the said investor for 25 years.
According to Kadamay, the privatization of the Philippine Orthopedic Center will serve as a catalyst for the privatization of more public hospitals under the Aquino administration.
This will only mean annual death to thousands, if not tens of thousands, of indigent patients who will be unable to cope up with the tremendous increase in the cost of health services that comes with privatization. “Aquino’s Public-Private Partnership program is no less than a death blow to our already dying poor population,” said Gloria Arellano, Kadamay national chair.
According to Alliance of Health Workers, 7 out of 10 poor patients die without receiving any medical attention from public hospitals. The number will increase as not less than 36 public hospitals and medical centers in the country are bound to be privatized under Aquino's Universal Health Care Program.
Another massacre of the poor
According to Arellano, the series of protests which starts today in time for the 26th anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre is only a response to a similar massacre of the poor due to the planned privatization of public hospitals and health services under the Aquino administration.
They will start their protests today with a leafleteering and petition signing drive among the visitors, patients and employees of the POC.
On January 23, Kadamay will hold synchronized community protests in Metro Manila vs the planned privatization of the POC and other public hospitals. A protest action of POC health workers is also set on the same day.
On January 24, Kadamay is set to hold protests outside public hospitals in Metro Manila that aside from the POC will be privatized such as the Amang Rodriguez Medical Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, among others.
On January 25, hundreds of urban poor together with health workers will aim to barricade the gates of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) which is the venue of the Pre-Bid Conference of the MPOC. ###
Reference: Gloria Arellano, Kadamay national chair, 0921.392.7457
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KALIPUNAN NG DAMAYANG MAHIHIRAP
Militant Center of Filipino Urban Poor
12-A Kasiyahan St., Don Antonio Hts., Brgy. Holy Spirit, QC
427.4315 | kadamay-natl.blogspot.com | kadamay_national@yahoo.com
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