A TOTAL of 45 personnel of the UST Hospital have availed themselves of an “early retirement package” offered by the hospital administration as part of cost-cutting measures.
Fr. Arthur Dingel O.P., Office for Planning and Quality Management director, said the hospital is undergoing “rationalization” to reduce the number of its employees.
“There are too many employees for a small number of patients. If we only need 10, why get 20?” Dingel said.
Dingel denied reports that about 800 employees at the hospital’s charity ward would be retrenched.
Ferdinand Magkasi, director of the hospital’s human resource department agreed. “We tried to rationalize our manpower so we hired only who we needed,” he said.
The early retirement package offer, which was not exclusive to charity ward employees, was good from July to October 31 and consisted of a 150-percent pay that was double the original early retirement package.
The collective bargaining agreement between UST and the Sandigan ng mga Manggagawa sa UST Hospital guarantees employees who had served for 10 years to less than 15 years a package of 80 percent of their monthly pay, multiplied by the number of credited years of service. Those who have served for 15 years to less than 20 years are supposed to get 95 percent and those who served for 20 years and up, 100 percent.
For instance, if an employee earning P10,000 a month retired after 12 years of service, he will get 80 percent of his monthly salary, which is P8,000, for every year of service, or P96,000.
In the new early retirement package, meanwhile, if an employee earning P10,000 a month retired after 12 years of service, he will get 150 percent of his monthly salary, which is P15,000 for every year of service, or P180,000.
Dingel said employees who had availed themselves of the package cited personal reasons like “migrating to another country.”
The hospital has temporarily stopped hiring new employees, except for critical positions like nuclear medical technicians.
Magkasi said there was a need to “rationalize manpower” because “if there are development plans, we have to reduce a certain level of our operation.” For example, if part of a building is being renovated, some areas will not be functional and regular employees working in that particular area will be affected.
As part of the hospital’s development plan, some offices in the clinical division were renovated, like the admissions office and the vestibule on the side of the hospital facing San Martin de Porres building. Jilly Anne A. Bulauan with reports from Adrienne Jesse A. Maleficio
