WHILE the independent investigating committee created by the Department of Health (DOH) is still conducting an investigation into the deaths of two infants in Lapu-Lapu City following a vaccination, I suggest to the city’s health officer, Dr. Rodulfo Berame and DOH 7 officials to stop issuing statements that would tend to preempt the probe.
The committee tasked to look into the deaths of three-month old Ghirvaughn Limpangog and four-month old Ayesha Suson is composed of three government doctors and three private physicians. The two infants died three days after they were injected with pentavalent vaccine in a health center in Barangay Pajac last November 8 by a certified and experienced midwife. The midwife has not surfaced to explain her side.
The problem with Berame and other DOH officials is that they keep on issuing statements protecting the process of vaccination and defending the one who administered it. So what is the purpose of the investigation? They might as well drop the complaints of the parents.
They said in media interviews that the vaccination had nothing to do with the deaths of the two babies. Why don’t they just wait for the final result of the investigation? There are several nagging questions on the deaths of the two innocent angels.
Have the medicines expired? Were these properly deposited in an area with the required temperature? Was the proper procedure and protocol properly observed when these were administered?
Berame even blamed the mothers because they did not tell the real health condition of their babies when they brought them to the health center for vaccination. The babies might have already been suffering from an acquired disease, he said. According to the death certificates, the cause of the death of one of the babies was severe dehydration while the other one died from meningitis.
How can the mothers open up to the one who administered the vaccine when they were not asked? Isn’t it standard operating procedure that the health worker should ask questions about the baby before administering the vaccine? Private pediatrics does that.
With so many mothers and their infants lining up at the health center availing of the free immunization, wasn’t there a chance for the health worker to interact with the mother? What Berame and other health officials are doing is to protect the government’s program on free immunization from being criticized.
For me, I am strongly supporting the program because it serves to the interest of the underprivileged sector. If you go to private pediatricians, immunization is very expensive. And you have to visit the doctor every month for several years until it is over.
Let the investigating committee do its task first before health officials open their mouths on this controversial issue. It is very painful to lose a child. If it would be proven that the babies’ deaths were not related to the vaccination, then so be it. I hope the parents can also accept it if this will be the finding.