HEALTH and police officials proposed the installation of additional closed circuit TV cameras (CCTV) in other critical areas in the hospital during yesterday’s public hearing of the Provincial Board (PB) health committee.
Dr. Sophia Mancao, head of the Department of Health’s (DOH-7) Regulation Licensing Enforcement Division, said security cameras should be installed in the nursery, emergency room, entrance and exit, patient wards and parking area.
The ordinance authored by PB Member Sun Shimura came in the wake of the “taped baby” controversy involving the Cebu Maternity House and Puericulture Center in Cebu City.
The first draft of the proposed ordinance only required the installation of CCTV cameras inside the nursery.
Invited during the hearing were representatives of provincial and district hospitals and the police.
Despite the presence of CCTV cameras, Mancao said the privacy of the patients and their respective families should be maintained by the hospital.
She said the hospital should keep video recordings and these could only be released through a court order.
“Remember when we enter the hospital, we sign a form for consent of care. By doing that, the patient conceded that he or she will be treated inside the facility. Installing the CCTV is part of that policy,” Mancao told the PB health committee.
Chief Insp. Laurel Almirante of the Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) and Dr. Macapagal Abdul of the Carcar City Hospital supported Mancao’s suggestion.
“The proposal is very useful but if it just focuses on the nursery, we might miss other areas where crime is possible,” Almirate said.