Public Employee Press

Union weighs in against privatizing dialysis unit

Health care activists and members of DC 37 locals filled the auditorium at Harlem Hospital Oct. 30 for the annual Health and Hospitals Corp. public meeting for fiscal year 2008.

The annual meetings took place in each borough to give the public an opportunity to express their concerns before the members of the HHC Board of Directors.

Representing DC 37, Assistant Associate Director Henry Garrido raised serious concerns over contracting out dialysis services at Bellevue Hospital.

“Already we have the privatization of food services by Sodexho in many of our facilities, which has reduced the number of good entry-level union job opportunities,” said Garrido in his testimony before the board. “One by one, the hospitals will come to us and say, we just need to do this medical service, or this x-ray, or this lab work in order to save money. Soon we will look around and see no more public sector workers standing among us.”

Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420 Recording Secretary Monique Jaysura also addressed the privatization issue.

“Bellevue performed over 8,000 out-patient dialysis procedures last year,” said Jaysura. “Despite the fact that Medicaid paid for two-thirds of these, Bellevue still made money on the unit. Now HHC wants to contract dialysis out to a private, for-profit company that has a higher cost per procedure and serves a radically different patient population,” she said.

Garrido also pointed out a significant distinction between the private sector and public sector: “A private company is by nature in this business to make a profit. The profit may come from turning people away — subtly, discreetly — but nevertheless turning them away,” he said.

“We, the public employees, are here to serve all the patients, regardless of their ability to pay, immigration status or any other category that might divide us,” Garrido said.