Barili district hospital: Infant dies ‘due to hospital’s negligence’

CEBU, Philippines - Another government-run hospital in Cebu Province is now in hot water, this time, involving a four-month old infant who died last Friday allegedly due to the negligence of the hospital staff.

Seventy-three-year-old Nina Mari of Barangay Japitan in Barili town is calling for the dismissal from the service of the attending nurses at Barili District Hospital for allegedly failing to look into the health condition of her grandson Bryan Dimote.

Mari told The FREEMAN over the phone that his grandson was admitted Thursday at the district hospital after suffering from fever and discharging watery stool.

“Maayo pa man ang bata atong panahona. Nabalaka lang mi tungod kay mikalit lang g’yud siya og init unya sagol tubig ang tae,” she said.

Around 7 a.m. the following day, a nurse (name withheld by The FREEMAN pending investigation) administered oxygen to the child, which baffled Mari since the child was still reportedly in good condition and was not even suffering from asthma. Despite this, Mari said she did not react as she trusted the expertise of the nurse.

Mari felt uneasy upon observing that her grandson had difficulty in breathing after the oxygen was administered which prompted her to call the attention of the nurse.

Mari said the nurse tried to pacify her by saying that everything was fine and normal.

“Naluoy man kos bata mao akong gitangtang pero gipabalik sa nurse. Giingnan ko nga ayaw kahadlok kay ingon ana g’yud daw na. Misugot na lang ko kay abi na lang ignorante ta, sila may nakahibalo,” she said.

But the infant’s breathing difficulty reportedly got worse few hours later. Mari said she asked another nurse to check the situation but the latter allegedly just turned her back. She then sought the help of a midwife to call the doctor who was at the emergency room at that time.

However, Mari was informed by a nurse that the child was already very ill and needed to be referred to Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, which is at least two hours of travel from Barili.

The family refused to have the child brought to Cebu City, noting the deteriorating condition of the patient.

“Ako silang giingnan nga nganong wa man mo miingon ganiha daan. Wa man nila tan-awa ang kondisyon sa bata nga ganiha ra ko nagpatabang. Diha ra miduol ang mga nurse nga milagom na ang bata,” Mari said.

The child was brought to the emergency room of the district hospital where he died around 11 a.m., Mari added, interrupting the interview with a whine.

 She said the family is not interested in filing a complaint against the hospital personnel but asked the provincial government to dismiss the nurses.

The four-year old infant was laid to rest Saturday.

Sought for comment, provincial health officer Cynthia Genosolango said her office is still conducting inquiry on the incident.

Staffs of the Barili District Hospital were having a meeting as of this writing to discuss the matter.

“As much as we have that responsibility to make the sick well and the dying live, we just cannot. And God knows we are trying and we will continue to do so. At the end of the day we have our conscience to let us know to do better each another day,” Genosolango said in a text message sent to The FREEMAN.

Earlier this month, the death of a public school teacher in Tuburan town was blamed to expired insulin administered to her at Tuburan District Hospital. The Provincial Health Office has not given a report yet whether or not the expired medicine was fatal, waiting for the result of the test on the medicine.

Last month, negligence was also blamed for the death of a one-year old child at Minglanilla District hospital. The PHO found out that the attending doctor committed lapse in judgment in dealing with the patient, which led to his dismissal.

Days after, two incidents of the same nature which had happened in July and October also came out, still at the said district hospital. (FREEMAN)