BAGUIO CITY April 28 – 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 at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) after he was allegedly not been given the proper medical treatment and support services twice by 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 COVID-19 cases, the same should not be an excuse for hospitals not to render proper medical treatment and support to anybody that appear on the doorsteps or emergency rooms 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 services to any patient.
The resolution underscores it is important for every hospital to adhere to their mandate to serve anyone and comply with the law.
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 to be widely circulated through media to encourage the residents to assert their right to be rendered proper medical treatment.
The resolution stipulates that 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 healthy.
At present, there are four private hospitals and one 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 military school. ** By Dexter A. See
