BARELY two days after his birth, a baby was taken from his parents and right under the noses of hospital security and staff in the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC).
The good news is that the infant, whom his parents plan to name Prince Niño, was found last night in Cebu City. He appeared unharmed. Investigators have yet to figure out why the woman who kidnapped him did so. The hospital management will have to reassure the public that it can prevent such an ordeal from happening again.
But while it’s tempting to view this as merely a security lapse, we suspect that’s not the case, entirely.
The VSMMC is not only Cebu’s largest public hospital. It is also, arguably, the island’s most overworked one. For years, the hospital has had to treat more than the patients it was built for; it is not uncommon for new mothers to have to share hospital beds.
The twin calamities in late 2013 further increased the demand for VSMMC’s services. Sun.Star Cebu’s Linette Ramos-Cantalejo has reported, based on the hospital’s population count, that in the year after the October 2013 earthquake, VSMMC’s emergency room cases shot up to double their pre-quake levels. In October 2013, the hospital treated 2,375 patients in its emergency room. That went up to 7,497 in November (after Yolanda) and did not dip below 5,800 in the 11 months that followed.
Deliveries are, for the most part, not complicated procedures. District hospitals or lying-in clinics should be able to attend to most cases. That many such cases still end up in the VSMMC suggests that public health facilities in other parts of the province may need more resources. Or better training. It should also remind the Cebu City Government to minimize delays in the construction of its new Cebu City Medical Center, so that it can help meet the demand for public health services soon.
Prince Niño’s reunion with his parents gives this particular story an upbeat end, at least for his family. That it happened at all is a cautionary tale for our public servants and health institutions.