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Wednesday, June 08, 2005
Editorial: Long time coming
A PROPOSED resolution in the City Council that would facilitate the signing of a memorandum of agreement requiring all the hospitals to admit patients especially children in emergency cases even without payment is a belated but nevertheless significant measure.
Reportedly the measure was filed by the City Council health committee chaired by either Councilor Simeon Licayan or Councilor Reynaldo Advincula after a minor died because of loss of blood.
That incident is only a series of cases in which patients were turned away by hospitals for their failure to pay the deposits or whatever bills these hospitals include in their charge sheets for them.
Why this measure had been finalized as of now we can only hazard a guess but at least the city government is taking some action on this case and not just the usual medical dole-outs.
For us the first tragic case of medical negligence on the part of one hospital was a former City Hall worker who was turned away by one major hospital (they know who they are) and then referred to the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) only to come in too late.
Since then the wife of the stabbing victim filed a case that was handled by Councilor Edgar Cabanlas and we could only hope that justice was done for her case. Because there are other people who may experience the same fate as she had.
Then of course there are the countless cases of indigent mothers who got "detained" after giving birth to their children because they don't have the money to immediately pay for their childbirth costs.
All these medical problems should have been solved one way or the other by the city government but in this regard they are more often than not sympathetic to the hospitals since some of them are run by religious institutions.
Which is rather ironic because religious institutions are supposed to extend God's charity to the poor. Nevertheless the hospitals who operate by virtue of income generated from their patients aren't exempt from extending medical aid when needed.
The city government should re-double its efforts by upgrading the J.R. Borja Memorial hospital. Granted there had been equipment and some improvements but how else can one convince the city residents to avail of the hospital's services when they proceed instead to the NMMC.
Because the hospitals in the city are also upholding the Hippocratic oath of providing care and comfort for the sick and the needy. Hopefully with this MOA they could be true to the spirit of the Hippocratic oath.
(June 8, 2005 issue)
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