We have this misfortune Wednesday of not being recognized by a certain Ms. Policianos, head of the business section of the Tagbilaran Community Hospital. It was no big deal actually to this BGlante. We do not expect to be known to all Peters, Pauls and Marys. In fact, if possible, we choose to remain low-profile. But the recent incident deserves a second look for people who are involved in frontline services. If only for the sake of educating front liners, the nuances of good manners and right conduct, then, we feel this incident deserves a space in this corner not because it concerns an identity crisis involving this BGlante. The sad story began with a neighbor who was hospitalized for four days in the said hospital. The neighbor being poor failed to raise the accumulated hospital bill of more than P11,000. Raising only P6,000 or more than one half of the total bill, the patient was longing to be discharged that day for fear of adding another burden in her hospital bill. She asked that she be freed from hospital confinement by offering a co-maker as collateral to the balance of payment.

When she bruited the name Boy Guingguing, the owner of the Bohol Sunday Post, as her co-maker, the answer from the other end, in this case, Ms. Policianos, was that she did not know him from Adam. So, instead of co-maker, to the chagrin of the poor lady, the man she thought as very popular in this city turned out to be collateral damage. No offense meant as far as this BGlante is concerned. To our mind, why blame the business section chief if we are not known to her. Trouble was, her ignorance of the man's identity was coupled with a harsh dispatch instead of saying no in a nice way. In fact, if the narration of facts of the supposed victim was to be believed, the hospital lady was behaving in an arrogant manner. This prompted us to ask of what really is the protocol in handling “unknown” co-makers. Wouldn't it be prudent for front liners to locate the supposed co-makers by consulting the telephone directory if the man mentioned hereabouts really existed by calling him? No such conscious effort to contact the so-called collateral.

Thinking that the damage has been done, the next morning this BGlante who happens to be an anchor of DYRD's Inyong Alagad lost no time in tackling the hot issue. It was at this point that while the anchors were about to take turns to interview Ms. Policianos of her side of the complaint when out of the blue another lady, her voice apparently seething with anger, made her pitch that private hospitals are exempted from a law that prohibits the detention of patients if they fail to pay their bills. Her intrusion drove the goat of Chito Visarra, another Inyong Alagad anchor, who before his very eyes is Republic Act 9439 otherwise known as the Patient's Illegal Detention Law. This law, according to Visarra, prohibits illegal detention of patients in hospitals and medical clinics on grounds of non-payment of medical bills or expenses. Visarra's research triggered a heated debate with the intruding hospital personnel who turned out to have no background information of what she was talking about. When confronted with inconvertible facts from Chito's Google, all the intruder did was tell the anchors to talk to the hospital lawyer regarding the controversial prohibition.

End of the fierce exchange? No, the anchors asked for her name but all she gave was that she was the hospital HRD. Her actuations on air was enough for irate callers to call the lady as the epitome of bad manners. More callers called for her resignation in her position as HRD officer adding that she did not deserve that sensitive position. It was at this point that the son of the medical facility owners, Jonas Inting, went to the Inyong Alagad studios to personally apologize to the program anchors in relation to the lapses of their hospital personnel in handling patients who cannot be discharged immediately for lack of money. Toward the end of the radio program, a lady in a low voice who was later identified as Dr. Aurora Lumaad, who incidentally was the one who butted in without any ceremony in the earlier discussion of the issue, narrated her own version of the controversy. She said contrary to our claims that the patient was not properly attended to in her time of discharge, she said all possible assistance was afforded to the patient. The anchors tried to refute her own false claims but to no avail because she was so certain that the hospital was not remiss in their duty in dealing with patients. With the heated exchange of tirades, it's for the listeners to discern who's telling the truth. At least in the end, the identity of the co-maker who was the subject of the controversy was finally known. Lesson of this morality play on air? Anybody can mess up with a pot full of leftover (isang palayok na bahaw) but never with an Inyong Alagad anchor.