Baguio council to hospitals: Accept, attend to all patients

BAGUIO CITY  – The City Council approved a resolution urging and reminding all private hospitals in the city not to refuse to administer medical treatment for any patient appearing at their doorsteps or emergency rooms, especially during this period of extended enhanced community quarantine.

            The resolution authored by all members of the city legislative body states there was a report that a certain Jayson Patrick Reyes allegedly died in the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) after he was allegedly not been given the proper medical treatment and support twice from a private hospital in the city.

            The resolution adds that with the increasing rate of patients which may be persons under investigation (PUIs) or persons under monitoring (PUMs) in the city because of the continuous surge in the number of confirmed Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019, the same should not be an excuse for hospitals not to render proper medical treatment and support to anybody that appear in the doorsteps or emergency room of any hospital in the city.

            Earlier, Senator Christopher Lawrence Go, chairman of the Senate committee on health, reiterated the compliance of the country’s health sector to the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 1-032 because of incidents in several places in the country including a patient who allegedly died after being turned away by 6 hospitals in Cabanatuan City.

            RA 10932, otherwise known as the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law, declared it unlawful for a hospital or medical clinic to refuse to administer medical treatment and support to any patient that appears at the doorsteps or emergency room of hospitals in the different parts of the country.

            The resolution underscores it is important for every hospital to adhere to their mandate to serve anyone and comply with the requirements not to refuse to administer medical treatment and support to anyone that appears in their doorsteps or in their emergency rooms and to remind them they can be penalized if they cannot do so.

            Copies of the approved resolution will be forwarded to the members of the Board of Directors and management of the different hospitals in the city and at the same time be widely circulated through media to encourage the residents to assert their right to be rendered proper medical treatment.

            The resolution stipulates the right to health is one of the basic rights that must be fulfilled by the government through a health system that must be put in place to ensure people will be productive in accordance to the age-old proven saying that health is wealth.

            At present, there are 4 private hospitals and 1 government hospital in the city while there is a private hospital and a government hospital in the nearby capital town of La Trinidad, Benguet.

            However, there is also the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) station hospital serving  the medical and health needs of the cadets and personnel of the premier military school in Asia. City legislators expressed optimism the board and management of the different private and public hospitals in the city will adhere to the spirit of the approved resolution to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents that will result to the loss of lives needing health care services. -- Dexter A. See