AN ETHICS committee will be formed to set policy guidelines in Capitol-run hospitals.
Its members will be private doctors and some Provincial Board (PB) members.
This development came after several deaths in district hospitals hogged the news headlines.
The latest was Hezil Relabo Aparecio, a public school teacher, who died after she was injected with expired insulin in the Tuburan District Hospital last Nov. 17.
The guidelines will be similar to the ISO 9000, said PB Member Grecilda Caballero, referring to an international quality management standard that increases efficiency and customer satisfaction of hospital patients.
Distribution
Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale said the committee will also monitor medical officials’ behavior towards their patients.
Magpale and Caballero were in Balamban yesterday for the distribution of the P1.247-million cash incentives to barangay tanods, barangay health workers, daycare center workers, barangay nutrition scholars and barangay animal health aide.
After the activity, Caballero attended Aparecio’s burial in Tuburan. She brought with her a sack of rice, a box of coffee and milk for the victim’s family.
Caballero’s close-in staff, Bienvenido Relabo, is Aparecio’s uncle.
Aparecio was described as fun-loving, friendly and the go-to person for those who need to borrow money, said Aida Paglinawan, her colleague at the Putat National High School in Tuburan.
“They are well off. Neighbors go to them for financial assistance,” Paglinawan said in Cebuano.
Burial
Aparecio’s former student, Mariefhel Nuena, 17, said she cried when she found about her teacher’s death.
Nuena said she used to run errands for Aparecio. She would buy the teacher’s favorite lunch, humba, and a mug of ice cream.
Aparecio was their adviser for the supreme student government. “Modawat siya sa mga opinion ug idea namo (She listened to our
opinion and ideas),” she said.
Aparecio was buried yesterday at the Tuburan Public Cemetery. She left behind her husband Melbert and their one-year-old son Harris Melbert.