DOH chief forms panel to probe death of 3 of all-girl quadruplet

Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit has formed a five-member team that will investigate the death of three of all-girl quadruplets born to a poor couple after hospitals allegedly denied them treatment.

"This case is important to us. This can be a precedent for handling of these things in the future," Dayrit said.

The three girls were buried at the La Loma Cemetery in Manila yesterday afternoon.

Dayrit said that the sole survivor, Ma. Jobel Calisaan, was in "stable condition but under critical observation" at the Dr. Fabella Memorial Hospital in Sta. Cruz, Manila.

From the lying-in clinic, where they were born, the quadruplets were brought to the nearby Manila Central University (MCU) Hospital where they allegedly received shabby treatment. The girls’ father Vladimir, a delivery van driver, said the hospital coordinated their transfer to other hospitals but the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) allegedly asked a P20,000 deposit for each of the babies, so they were brought instead to the Fabella Hospital, which then had no available incubator for "out-born" infants.

Dayrit said the investigation would cover the lying-in clinic, the MCU Hospital, Fabella and PGH.

The teams, he said, will determine if there was violation of Republic Act 8344 or the "No Deposit Law" passed in 1997.

Hospitals found guilty of violating the law face administrative sanctions ranging from suspension to revocation of license to operate and could also be charged criminally.

But while the law prohibits hospitals from demanding deposits during emergency cases, it allows them to transfer patients after giving them life-saving care.

"We regard this as a signal to all hospitals to allow the law on proper emergency care without asking for deposit," Dayrit added.

The team is expected to submit the initial results of the investigation today.

Dayrit explained that the condition of the Calisaan children were very delicate as they were born premature.

"When a baby is born premature, the lungs are not yet fully developed. The lungs at birth have to expand so that air will come in and the baby can breathe. For most premature babies, the lungs do not expand so they need a special respirator that will force the lungs to open and function. Unless an ambulance has a special respirator, you cannot transport the baby, mamamatay yun (it will die)," he maintained.

Dayrit added that premature babies also tend to have low body temperature and erratic blood sugar.

"At the outset, the babies are at risk. You cannot just transfer them from one hospital to the other if you are not equipped. These are among the things that the team will look into," he maintained.

Meanwhile, Sen. Manuel Villar yesterday called on the passage of his bill requiring all government and private hospitals to extend free medical assistance to indigent children.

"If hospitals and clinics were prohibited from refusing admission of indigent children, the lives of the three babies could have been saved," he said.

Under Villar’s Senate Bill 2216, "indigent children" is defined as any child below 18 years old who has health problems requiring medical and dental services.

In extending free medical services, Villar proposed that the expenses incurred by a private hospital or medical center be considered deductible expenses and losses for income tax purposes.

Villar’s bill also proposes that administrators or physicians who would refuse to treat poor children be penalized between P10,000 to P15,000 or face imprisonment of one to five years.

Villar has also filed Senate Bill No. 2234 that seeks to stop hospitals and medical clinics in preventing the discharge of fully recovered or dead patients for non-payment of hospital bills.