Wellness, not profit, centers

The death of a 10-year-old girl allegedly after she was refused admission by Butuan Doctors Hospital should be investigated by authorities. I also suggest that lawyers give free legal assistance to the parents of the young girl.

Yanna Chan’s parents were short of the P30,000 deposit the hospital was asking; they had with them at the time only P10,000 in cash. I do not know Yanna’s family, but based on her mother’s letter circulating online, the young girl, previously confined at a hospital in San Francisco, Agusan, had to be transferred due to her condition. An ambulance brought the young girl to Butuan but after she was turned away, her parents had no choice but to bring her to Davao City, which is a long trip from Butuan. The young girl, according to her mother, died even before reaching Davao City.

I cannot discuss the legal aspect of this issue. But if this story is true, I condemn that hospital in Butuan. Nothing is more abominable than refusing treatment to a dying child. I understand the business aspect of a hospital, but I wonder where the ethics committee of that hospital is. Its members must also be interrogated.

While private hospitals need to earn profit, they are supposed to be, primarily, centers of wellness, not moneymaking machines. Private hospitals might say that if you are poor, you should seek treatment from a public hospital. That is wrong. There is a huge public interest aspect in hospitals and it is for this reason that they need to apply for a Certificate of Need from the Department of Health. Nothing in that document, nor in the feasibility study they submit to banks when they apply for a loan, states that the owners will ensure that the hospitals earn a profit. What is often put forward is the idea of service, but in most cases this is only good on paper.

More and more Yannas will die under similar circumstances. Most of them will be undocumented due to poverty and the reluctance of parents to pursue cases against rich hospital owners.

Three key concepts are crucial in hospital service: efficiency, effectiveness and immediacy. A hospital can have good doctors and facilities, yet if service is not immediate, patients suffer; or because of the sheer number of patients, service cannot be given immediately, although still effective. Some hospitals can give immediate attention, but without the proper facilities and right doctors, service will not be efficient. The thing is, emergency

cases require those three principles to work in order to save a patient’s life.

I don’t agree that money is imperative in emergency cases. What’s needed is compassion and understanding on the part of hospital owners and doctors. Lawyers turn away a potential client, at least he or she is sure to remain alive. Doctors turn away a patient, he or she could die.

—CHRISTOPHER RYAN MABOLOC,

philosophy department,

Ateneo de Davao University,

[email protected]