The local government of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan has denied claims that its city hospital refused to admit a pregnant patient because of lack of downpayment, which eventually caused her death and her twin babies'.
In its statement released Friday, the local government said the post made by a certain Marilou Perez Dela Cruz, sister-in-law of deceased patient Liezel Cordova, was "wrong, baseless" and had "no truth with it."
Dela Cruz in a Facebook post on May 10 said the city hospital is "worthless for not even attending" to her sister-in-law, who was already gasping for breath, because she couldn't pay for the down payment.
"Hindi nyo binigyan ng pagkakatain ang mga bata para mabuhay (You didn't give the twins the chance to live)," she added. Her post already garnered 3,900 reactions and 4,700 shares as of writing.
The local government refuted her claim by saying the Ospital ng Lungsod ng San Jose del Monte, which is a government hospital, does not oblige patients to give deposit or advance payment, especially those at emergency rooms and for admission.
It added that the 42-year-old patient arrived at the hospital "cyanotic" and was already declared dead on arrival, so "there was no truth that she was gasping for breath at the time of the incident."
Hospital staff also tried to monitor the fetal heart tone of the babies but they failed to revive them, the local government added.
"Mayroon kaming no refusal, no transfer policy at sumunod sa mandato at guidelines sa NBB o No Balance Billing, at tulungan ang lahat ng pasyente, ito man ay tulong medikal o tuling pinansiyal sa pamamagitan ng direktang tulong mula sa Office of the City Mayor (We have a no refusal, no transfer policy and we comply with guidelines for No Balance Billing. We aim to help all patients, either medically or financially, through funds from the Office of the City Mayor)," it added.
On May 12, the patient was laid to rest.
After reading the statement of the local government, the patient's partner, a certain Rudz Perez, said in a Facebook post the local government's explanation is "all wrong."
"Ako lahat ang nakasaksi kung paano nalagutan ng hininga ang asawa ko dahil sa mabagal at hindi nyo pag asikaso sa asawa ko at wag nyong sasabihing dead on arrival sya dahil nakababa pa sya sa ambulance (I witnessed all that happened to my wife before she died because of your slow response and non-attendance. Don't also tell me that she died on arrival because she even managed by herself to get out of the ambulance)," Perez said.