Over ‘taping’ incident sanctions pushed vs maternity house

CEBU, Philippines - The inter-agency task force that investigated the “taping” incident at the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, Inc. has recommended sanctions against the facility for failing to comply with the requirements of Republic Act 10028 or the Expanded Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009.

The task force said the maternity house failed to implement continuous and immediate teaching, training, and support to mothers or pregnant women during their prenatal, perinatal and postnatal consultations and confinements in a health institution.

“Cebu Maternity has a number of deficiencies that needed to be complied with insofar as the renewal of its license to operate as a specialty hospital,” the report reads.

The taskforce recommended that the Secretary of Health “issue an order requiring the submission of a Certificate of Commitment (Mother-Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative Certification) as a condition precedent to the issuance or renewal of License to operate.”

The renewal of license is on October 2014 and should the maternity house fail to present a copy of the COC, its license to operate will not be renewed.

Early on, the task force recommended that personnel at the maternity house undergo a 20-hour lactation management training and a separate seminar on child development for them to understand children’s behaviors and learn how to handle these behaviors.

It was also recommended that a supervisor oversee operations at the nursery, create and implement a child protection policy to ensure the physical and psychological safety and security of the babies, and ensure that the hospital staff is made aware of and will adhere to the institution’s values, beliefs, policies, and procedures.

The Department of Health-7, a member of the fact finding committee, through Regional Director Jaime Bernadas, submitted the complete findings and recommendations of the task force to the Cebu City Council for perusal. The Council, in turn, referred the document to its committee on health.

The inter-agency task force stressed that the decision to seek legal remedy lies with Ryan Noval and Jasmine Badocdoc, the parents of the child whose lips were allegedly taped while at the nursery at the maternity house in May. A nurse reportedly did so because the child would not stop crying.

The incident became public when Noval posted a photo of his son on Facebook. /JMO (FREEMAN)