Health chief orders probe of Butuan hospital for turning away ill girl who later died
MANILA, Philippines — No person seeking medical help should be turned away by any health facility, whether government or private, especially in an emergency.
This was stressed by the Department of Health (DOH) in reaction to reports of a 10-year-old girl dying after being turned away by a private hospital in Butuan City because her family could not produce the deposit required by the hospital.
“Every Filipino, regardless of status in life, should have equal access to health care… the law states that all cases should be treated and admitted, if necessary, by a hospital,” said Health Secretary Enrique Ona.
Later in an interview, Health Undersecretary Ted Herbosa said they had ordered an investigation into the death of Jannary Chan or “Yanna” on July 16 from congestive heart failure.
The girl’s mother, Tutz Salarda-Chan, posted on Facebook how she had pleaded with personnel of the Butuan Doctors Hospital to admit her critically ill child, to no avail.
“I ordered an investigation after learning about it through social media. I’m also trying to get the side of the hospital. We want to find out if the one who determined whether the case was an emergency or not was a doctor… was there negligence on the part of the Butuan hospital doctors and their personnel?” Herbosa told reporters.
“Only a doctor can assess the condition of a patient, if it’s an emergency case or not, and if the patient can still be taken to a facility outside Davao,” he said.
“If it was an emergency there should have been no deposit. If there was not enough money for a deposit, the patient could have been accommodated in a charity bed. It is a requirement for all hospitals that 10 percent of their beds must be charity beds. The patient could have also stayed in the emergency room. We will look into that,” Herbosa said. ?