CEBU Gov. Hilario Davide III said he would ask the Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) to end the work contract of the doctor who attended to 1-year-old Mary Jane Bariquit.
The infant died of severe dehydration last Saturday but could have been saved if treatment was not delayed at the Minglanilla District Hospital where the mother was asked to buy dextrose, medicine and a needle outside, when supplies were available in the center.
Davide also asked the IPHO to look into the case of another chid who died in the same public hospital in October.
Davide said he still has to briefed about the death of 4-year-old Jense Tuballa, whose mother told media outlets the boy died after being prescribed the wrong medicine.
Davide said health care personnel should exercise extreme care in dealing with patients.
“We don’t tolerate that kind of attitude. Those who have an attitude problem have no place in public service,” Davide told reporters, referring to Dr. Agnes Demano, who attended to Mary Jane.
Hospital staff didn’t immediately administer IV fluids to baby Mary Jane, who died two hours after she was brought to the public hospital last Saturday night.
Provincial health officer, Dr. Cynthia Genosolango, said she would summon Dr. Jataporn Vatanagul and other medical staff who attended to the Tuballa boy at the same hospital last month.
“We can’t call it an investigation because we are not entitled to do that. All we could do is gather facts,” she told reporters. yesterday.
The boy’s mother said her only son died after taking medicine prescribed by Vatanagul.
Davide said the province is upgrading facilities and getting more doctors and medicine supplies, a campaign promise when he assumed as governor in 2013. “More than anything else, my sadness stems from the thought that the life of a young girl was lost when it could have been saved,” said the governor.
Under a provincial ordinance passed this year, medical care is supposed to be free in all district and provincial hospitals in Cebu for children up to 6 years old of indigent parents.
In a statement, former governor now Rep. Gwendolyn Garcia said the loss of lives at the Minglanilla District Hospital was a “painful consequence of Davide’s criminal neglect.”
“Now, this is criminal neglect in the truest sense of the word. Ngano (Why)? Mangabuhi pa nang mga bata sa iyang sorry (Would the statement that he’s sorry bring back the kids)? Karon mag-sorry-sorry ka lang tungod sa imong criminal neglect that resulted in the loss of human lives?” Garcia stated.
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