EMOTIONAL parents and relatives buried 8-month-old Harry Morgan Ylaya Visaya in Calamba cemetery yesterday afternoon.
They called for justice. The baby died of acute gastroenteritis with severe dehydration on June 7 allegedly due to the negligence of St. Anthony Mother and Child Hospital personnel.
The hospital management created an ad hoc committee yesterday to investigate the allegations against its staff.
But Michelle Ylaya, the baby’s aunt, doubted the credibility of the hospital to undertake an investigation.
She said they will file a complaint against the hospital staff before the Department of Health.
“We will go to the DOH. That’s their own committee that will investigate or review the interventions made. I hope it will not be fabricated. We have asked a lawyer to prepare a letter of complaint to DOH,” she said.
Dr. Robert Denopol, St. Anthony medical director, assured that their investigation will be fair.
“I appointed our chief nurse as chair of the ad hoc committee to avoid biases or favor to the doctors who attended to the patient from admission until his transfer to the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center,” Denopol said over dyLA.
He defended Dr. Roselle Lampayan and Dr. Venus Barte, saying they are “good, credible and have integrity.”
Both doctors finished their respective residency programs before they were hired at St. Anthony.
Lampayan and Barte have denied the allegations.
Denopol said it’s not usual for Barte to personally accompany a patient to another hospital during the transfer. But he said Barte just showed concern for the baby.
“That shows that the doctor was really concerned about the patient,” he said.
He said both doctors and the nurses involved will not be advised to file a leave of absence nor disallowed from reporting to work.
Denopol said hospital operations would be disrupted if any of the staff goes on leave.
“I cannot afford to do that because we have so many patients here,” he said.
The hospital has only 10 medical officers. It serves 80 to 100 out-patients everyday and operates 24 hours a day.
St. Anthony is a 25-bed hospital in Basak, San Nicolas that started as an extension of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center.
It became an independent government hospital in 1994, providing maternal and child care.
Denopol said the investigation committee will ask all the two doctors and all involved personnel to submit an incident report.
The report should state the condition of the patient upon admission and upon discharge as well as the involvement of the staff, he said.
The baby was first brought to St. Anthony on June 2 for vomiting and diarrhea.
He was given medicine and sent home. The baby was again confined at the hospital on June 3.
He was referred to Vicente Sotto on June 6. The baby died at the government hospital on June 7.
St. Anthony’s chief nurse, Dr. Rosenie Coronado, EdD, will head the seven-man investigating team.
Denopol also said they were willing to cooperate with DOH or any agency that will investigate the baby’s death.
Despite the allegations, the number of patients seeking medical care at the hospital has not decreased, Denopol said.