PB sets public hearing today on CCTV at hospital nursery

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu Provincial Board is set to hold a public hearing today on the proposed ordinance requiring all public and private medical institutions in the province to install a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera in its nursery.

The public hearing will start at 9 a.m. at the Session Hall of the Legislative Building. PB Members Sun Shimura and Jude Thaddeus Sybico, who authored the proposed measure, will conduct the hearing.

The provincial legislators want that all activities at the hospital nursery are monitored following at least five reported cases of babies whose mouth were sealed with adhesive tape at the nursery of Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House, Inc. (CPCMHI).

Representatives of the Department of Health, Cebu Medical Society, Cebu Police Provincial Office, and the National Bureau of Investigation are expected to attend the public hearing.  Vice Governor Agnes Magpale, some PB Members and Capitol department heads are also expected to attend.

As proposed, violators would be fined P10,000 on first offense; P30,000 on second offense; and P50,000 on third offense, which is also penalized with revocation of the institution’s permit and filing of a criminal case.

Shimura and Sybico also wanted that an inspection team, composed of the CPPO director, chief of the hospitals, NBI representative, among others, would do the mapping and monitoring of the hospitals to ensure full compliance of the ordinance. The team would be required to conduct regular inspection every six months.

The DOH-7 had earlier welcomed the proposal hoping that it will be approved soon. PB Member Arleigh Jay Sitoy also has pending proposal which seeks to ban the use of tapes to seal the mouth of newborn babies.

Under his proposal, a person who performs and ‘induces’ his personnel to commit the violation would be facing six months imprisonment  and  a  fine of not more than P5,000.

On the other hand, a person who ‘conspires’ to cover up the violation would be slapped with a three-month imprisonment and a fine of not more than P3,000. — (FREEMAN)