Doc dismissed

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu provincial government will no longer investigate the doctor of the Minglanilla District Hospital who attended to the one-year child whose death was blamed on negligence.

This after the Capitol terminated the contract of Dr. Agnes Demano, who was hired under job-order arrangement, following the incident.

Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III confirmed yesterday that the severance took effect last Friday.

He said he was ashamed by the incident.

“Pending the result of the inquiry on the matter, I believe that indifference on the part of government employees to the public that we serve has no room in public service under my watch,” he said in a press statement.

He, however, said the bereaved family of one-year-old Mary Jane Bariquit may still file charges against the doctor.

“If the family decides nga mo-file, they have right to do so,” he told reporters.

The Bariquits earlier said that they have no interest in pursuing a case against the doctor to prevent muddling things up.

Davide said they will look for someone else to replace Demano since the Capitol is still hiring a medical staff.

“Mangita ta’g maayo ang personality. In government service, utmost care (to the public) is required,” he added, citing the ethical conduct of doctors to be observed as embodied in the Hippocratic Oath.

The Minglanilla District Hospital currently has six doctors, eight are ideal for the facility of that size.

Last Thursday, Provincial Health Office chief Cynthia Genosolango told the media that Demano was only pulled out from the emergency room and transferred to the out-patients department. But in an interview yesterday, Genosolango said Demano was already terminated as ordered by Davide.

She learned during their inquiry in the case that Demano committed lapse in judgment when the doctor “automatically” made a prescription and asked Mary Jane’s family to buy the prescribed medicines even if these were available in the hospital’s pharmacy.

Apart from this, Demano allegedly shrugged off the patient’s family when they failed to purchase the P700 worth of medicine because they only had P200.

Demano was supposed to be placed under investigation by the Capitol’s Committee on Discipline and Investigation for possible violation of a provincial ordinance which mandates government-run hospitals to provide free medical care to children from zero to six years old.

The ordinance provides that parents and the qualified beneficiaries should not be denied free medical care, asked for any form of deposit before admission, or referred to private or other pharmacies even if there are available medicines in the in-house pharmacies of the government-owned hospitals.

Demano has not yet commented on the issue.

Proper delivery of services was also pointed out by Davide and Genosolango during a meeting of the chief of hospitals at the Capitol yesterday.

Genosolango relayed to the media that she reminded the hospital staff of their duty and attitude towards their patients.

“Di mo-invoke nga ‘busy na ko.” If we know that it is a critical situation, we should try to reach out. Atong pasabton ang mga pamilya,” she said, adding that the incident in Minglanilla District Hospital serves as a wake-up call.

Davide also directed the hospital heads to provide data of mortalities recorded since January this year. He said there is a lack of communication from the province-run hospitals regarding deaths, noting that he only knew of Mary Jane’s death from the newspaper reports.

“We need to have this data (to determine if) these cases are due to neglect of doctors,” he said.

Two similar cases happened on July 13 and October 7 this year also involving the Minglanilla District Hospital.

But Genosolango said they are still making inquiries on the issue, although one of the attending doctors was found to be Jatuporn Vatanagul, who earlier denied the allegation. —/BRP (FREEMAN)