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Experience at Holy Child Hospital

I decided to write about my experience at Holy Child Hospital, I believe this information is helpful to any future Patients of this Hospital.
Holy Child is located at the centre of Dumaguete City, I decided to go there because of it's location, it was much easier for my wife to go there, than for example Siliman or Provincial Hospital.
I caught an Urinary Tract Infection probably because of impure Drinking water, I treated myself at first with Amoxicilin but after four days it became severe and I admitted myself at the Emergency Room at about 8pm.
I was taken care of immediately and asked all the relevant questions and then my address details were taken down, after that they hooked me up to the famous “Dextrose”.
I was admitted to a Private Room with Bathroom/Toilet, TV and Aircon, quite large, facing the street and a bit noisy but tolerable, this was in the older part, one can have a room in the new section in the centre for the same price but non was available, for 1250PhP a day, this included three meals as much as I can see from the bill.
Because I was already admitted and had a long history of Digestive problems, I then decided to have at the same time an “Colonoscopy” and an “Endoscopy” for a total of 7200PhP for the procedures and 9500PhP for professional fees.
I was admitted for 3 days and had to pay a total of 22'162PhP with everything included, also some drugs and materials, exempt my medication to treat my infection and the problems they found in my stomach and colon.
Some of the drugs and materials have to be bought outside in the diverse Drug Stores, so one needs to have somebody to do that, some of the procedures can not be performed if one can not find the items needed, I was most of the time alone in the room, what I am comfortable with but I got some remarks about this not being conform with Filipino custom were a relative will be present at all times.
The overall experience was a good one, the staff was very friendly and helpful and I would go back any time if needed, I did not have to make a down payment but that was maybe because I look so wealthy! and was in company of another Foreigner when admitted.:o
Simple Mind

 

Water distribution is an infrastruction problem when every customer had a single story house or nipa hut along major roads regardless of whether you live In Dumaguete, Bacong or Sibulan. Water main sizes some but not all were based on future anticipated growth and as present farmland is converted to subdivisions the mains turn from a stream of water into a dribble even for one story houses.
The source of your water depends on where you live.
If you live in Valencia or Bacong your water comes off the moutain which is suceptable to mudslides and is gravity fed. Bacong has created a concrete holding tank at about 300 feet in Buntod, Bacong to improve water presure. My farm is along that road. During El Ninos past, Bacong used firetrucks to ferry water from Dumaguete then went along main roads filling jerrycans and buckets left along the roads for farmers and residents to have drinking water for washing and livestock.
Dumaguete wells and pumping stations require Norieco. If there is an extended brownout and the water system collapses a vacuum is created in the water mains which allows contaminated water from unrepaired water leaks to be drawn into the water districts system. Since there is no chlorination, when the power is restored the contaminated is mixed with the clean water. Stand pipes and elevated water tanks financed either by the water district or subdivision developers will allow customers in two story homes have a nice upstairs shower.
Sibulan's water comes from the Twin Lakes and is pumped downhill which requires Norieco, into an undersized infrastructure compounded by lax zoning that allow water consuming businesses to operate in residential areas. Sibulan like Dumaguete suffers from water system collapse in extended brownouts or calamities. Unlike well water, lake water has mosquito larvae that is sucked along with the lake water into the mains. In a bucket of city water these larvae clump together and form a mosquito which may have Denge that will float to the top and fly off. Proper chlorination would kill this larvae.
A new subdivision of hundreds of units, close to my house along the Bay Bay road has included a standpipe and water tank 50 feet in the air to store a abundant amount of water at 40 to 50 psi for their 2 story units. I wish the Sibulan Water District would do the same.
shakey aka John

 

Although it may appear that everything in the garden is Rosy for me back home in UK, this is definitely not the case, especially since I am here on my own, the cost to run a House back here is hitting me hard, although my Hoose has 4 Beds and 2Baths it is quite compact and around 125M2 only, however it is well designed and has good insulation, 2 years ago, I was charged £200 a month for Council Tax, this includes water and sewage charge, plus street lighting and refuge collection, this has now risen to £240 then there was the energy cost which was £80 a month back then, this has now risen to £285, I do think there has been an over estimated charge going on here? and have since submitted meter readings to get this stabilised? above this rounded up figure of £525 I have expenses for WiFi, house insurance, boiler service, then there is house maintenance, plus the expense to run a Car which I hardly ever use, the cost to me per mile travelled likely cannot be justified? I'm not all that sure what this all amounts to but would guesstimate somewhere in the region of £750 per month? this is before I put food on my table, fortunately I do know my way around a Kitchen and can eat like a King and Drink like a Fish for very little money, I should mention I have become an Alcotech and make my own Beer at a cost of Pesos 20 per half litre and Wine at P100 a bottle.

There is one big advantage to living back in Scotland, all Medical care is completely free for us and that includes Prescriptions and Eye Tests, with only a small charge for Dental work, even then I get a 50% discount on this as I only have half the teeth I once had, Education here is completely free of charge right through to getting a PHD at University as long as it is in Scotland and not elsewhere in UK, This could be a great advantage to me if/when I am able to get my Phil Family over here and thus enable my son to be Educated here.

 

We bought our Chevrolet in Dumaguete (they were at the mall from Bacolod). We had to take it for required maintenance (for warranty coverage) to a local auto shop every 3 months and have our book filled out, showing we were keeping up with the maintenance. One day my car wouldn't start after driving to the mall, got a jump, drove home. Next morning the battery was dead again, so I charged it and it started. I drove it the next day and it died again. I was told to clean the terminals on the battery, it still died, then I was told it was the battery, so I replaced the battery, it STILL died!! Come to find out, it was the alternator and I was quoted something like 20,ooophp for a new alternator, which was supposed to be covered by the warranty. The car was only 2 years old and I questioned why the alternator would already be bad, and a local mechanic got into the guts of the alternator and was able to replace a small part inside that was faulty (not the entire alternator) for 7,000php. I submitted all paperwork to be reimbursed by Chevrolet for the warranty work. They said they would reimburse me, but denied my claim by ignoring my requests and not taking, nor returning, my phone calls. So, at one of my required maintenance appointments (which was performed by Bacolod Chevrolet), instead of paying them the 9000php (a ridiculous amount anyway) they usually charged for that service, I paid them 2000php and gave them copies of the paperwork for the 7000php warranty work, and I said "now we are even"!! They never refuted it or sent me another bill........anyway, watch out, they are a bunch of crooks!!

 

Thanks for your interest everyone .... Yes we have our own pigs and our Deaf team does the butchering - sort of like in the diagram above but a little more evenly split into 3 sections from the backbone to the rib tips. Baby back are what we may have available from time to time since the other ones are snatched up quickly by resort/restaurant customers. With increasing production, we are hoping supply all of your requests - do text 09936-809-9593.

By the way - All bacon is Php 500/kg - Canadian and "belly" or rashers (strips). That belly bacon is tough to slice just right :-) ALL DELICIOUS! Tocino now available (after 3 days curing - first batch today!) Check us out on facebook! Naturally Negros.

 

MKKS sells beef from Brasil. I buy the beef tenderloin which is pretty good. They only sell the whole tenderloin at about 750-800 Php/kilo which is good value. A typical piece is about 1.5-2 Kg.

MKKS is across the street and east a couple of stores from City Hardware, near the Cock Pit.

EDIT: They also sell a variety of sausages for those of you that like sausage.

 

Impressions of the new Unitop store in Dumaguete:

Good - easy underground parking; walking distance from downtown; spacious and airy with no boxes of goods stacked around the aisles; plenty of cashier points and none very busy.

Bad points - do not accept bank cards (apparently temporary); same quality of staff who spends ages moving the items you are buying around and checking underneath them to see if a tiger has slunk in and done a poop underneath them, instead of just putting them through the till; don't make the mistake of taking something from one floor and trying to pay on the next floor, unless there is a barcode on the item......usual thing, many items are not barcoded and some of our purchases ended up being left at the till; food court area (small area near the entrance and may be temporary as the third floor is not yet open) had dirty floor tiles...clearly never been cleaned since the store opened.

Overall impression - more of the same cheap and nasty stuff in a nicer environment; could have waited a week or two longer to open and done it better.