CEBU, Philippines - The quadruplets of the Omaya Family are surviving at the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, however their parents worry about their increasing hospital bills.
Three of the babies are still confined at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the VSMMC while the other is now out of the Emergency Room and are being monitored at the Pediatrics Ward.
The last baby to come out is suffering from a congenital deformity.
He has a cleft lip and palate that doctors assured can be fixed through minor surgery, according to the 43-year-old father Ernesto Omaya.
Ernesto said his wife was already given the clearance to be discharged.
Yesterday, he started processing his wife’s clearance and found out their bill has reached P6,700. With a discount from the Social Welfare Office of the Department of Health at the VSMMC, 38-year old Marcelina Omaya’s bill still reaches P3,545.
Ernesto said he was at a loss where to find the money earlier yesterday, but was relieved when three Samaritans came to them at the hospital before noontime to give cash donations.
He was teary-eyed when he recalled the three people who gave him cash, two of them gave P2,000 each while the other gave P1,500. He now had the money to pay his wife’s hospital bills.
He regret failing to get the good samaritans’ names. He said the good samaritans learned about them through the newspapers.
“Pwede na sya (Marcelina) makagawas pero dili pa daw namo pwede dad-on pauli ang mga bata, (She can now be discharged but we still can’t bring our babies home. ” Omaya said.
The babies need to stay at the hospital for close monitoring of their health because they were born premature.
Ernesto said that the midwives advised him that the babies need to stay at the hospital for two months more.
The infants who are called Baby Boy I, Baby Girl II, Baby Girl III and Baby Boy IV at the hospital, have a running bill of P11,083.40 as of yesterday.
“Kulangan pa man gud kuno sila sa buwan. Mao lagi na among gikabalak-an ma’am. Kinsa man ang mu-monitor sa mga bata. Maayo gyud unta kung makakuha ko pirmi og pamasahe padulong diri syudad, (They are premature. This is why we are worried. Who will monitor our babies? I hope I could get enough money for our fare to the city.)” Ernesto said.
Ernesto is also worried about the increasing hospital bills of the infants.
Until yesterday, he has not bought the children a single piece clothing and diapers.
He admitted not being prepared for this since he and his wife were expecting them to be born on September yet.
Ernesto said that he only earns very little every week and it can barely sustain his family’s needs.
He collects and sells coconut shells for a living. Sometimes, he accepts extra works at a coal mine in Argao for extra income. — (FREEMAN)