BUTUAN CITY, Philippines - Administrators of the Butuan Doctors Hospital (BDH) on Friday denied reports that their staff refused a patient whose relatives failed to pay a pre-admission deposit.
In a press conference, lawyer Rodolfo Ato and BDH director Purita Escobar said a doctor even boarded the ambulance that brought 10-year-old Jannary Chan to check on her condition.
Ato and Escobar said the patient’s mother failed to produce a referral from the San Francisco Hospital (SFH), where the girl was first confined, authorizing the patient’s transfer to the BDH.
Escobar said no argument about down payment transpired between their staff and Chan’s mother, whom they said left the hospital on her own discretion.
The management admitted they have a policy to ask for a down payment before a patient is admitted to their hospital.
Earlier, Chan’s mother complained that hospital staff refused to admit her daughter when she could not give the P30,000 cash deposit. She said her money was only P10,000.
Jannary died of a heart ailment while she was being brought to another hospital last July 16.
The Department of Health is investigating the incident.