PGH doctors go on mass leave - INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines – Around 60 doctors of Philippine General Hospital (PGH), the teaching hospital of the University of the Philippines’ College of Medicine (UPCM), went on mass leave starting Monday to protest the removal of Dr. Jose Gonzales as PGH director.

Dr. Edelina dela Paz, who was among the doctors who went on mass leave, told the Inquirer that the hospital administration seemed to be in denial that there was a problem at the government facility.

“We want to show that all of the people here at PGH are disgruntled … There is something going on here,” she said.

The controversy at the hospital started in December when Gonzales was elected PGH director by the 11-member UP Board of Regents by a vote of 6-5.

The board, however, nullified the results after it voided the pro-Gonzales vote cast by student regent Charisse Bañez on the ground that she was not enrolled at UP at the time the election was conducted.

On February 25, the board held another election which led to Domingo being named as PGH director.

In a statement, the 60 doctors said they decided to take a mass leave of absence starting yesterday “to express our anger and dismay over the oppression and dubious removal from office of one of our own PGH doctors and to strongly protest the lack of democratic process in selecting our director.”

PGH doctors go on mass leave - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos

UP-PGH doctors announce mass leave in protest of new chief - INQUIRER.net

By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 10:04:00 03/29/2010

MANILA, Philippines—Doctors, health workers, and students of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital staged a protest action during the flag-raising ceremony on Monday.

They also announced a doctors' mass leave to protest the removal of the hospital head and the installation of the new PGH chief.

The move is to protest the ouster of Dr. Jose Gonzales as PGH director.

The protesters covered the Oblation statue with a black cloth to condemn the administration's "blatant disregard of the democratic processes" at the UP-PGH.

UP-PGH doctors announce mass leave in protest of new chief - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos