Insensitive
Credit to Author: Antonio Contreras| Date: Mon, 28 Oct 2019 19:04:48 +0000
I RARELY use this space for my personal gripes. But please allow me to rant, simply because it is not just about the lack of empathy of a government hospital, but also because the main victim of this is my two-week-old grandson. Besides, this comes after our country has improved its ranking in the ease-in-doing business category, and therefore it is only fair to call attention when one of its government hospitals makes it difficult for a two-week-old child. It cannot be right if we take pride that we are getting better in enabling business, but fail miserably in rendering service to an infant.
Our grandson was born with a cleft palate, and we were advised to seek immediate medical attention. Aside from making arrangements for early surgery — which we were told would be at least two and at most three weeks — that should be done before he reaches his first birthday, we were advised by his pediatrician to have him wear a customized prosthetic device. This is to enable his feeding, and to minimize the intake of air while nursing.
We were directed to this unit in a government hospital in Manila that specializes in making those prosthetic devices. As early as days after his birth, my sister-in-law, who is also a medical doctor, a rural health physician, and I already made inquiries. My grandson’s pediatrician was also kind enough to alert the unit. When I called days after my grandson was born, I was told that the unit was open only during Fridays at 1 p.m. Much as we wanted to bring him much sooner, we had to procure first a car seat, knowing that the drive from Los Baños to Manila was long, and I did not want to risk not only being apprehended for violating the law about using car seats for infants, but more importantly, I would never dare risk my grandson’s well-being, life and limb should any untoward accident happen during the journey.
In anticipation of the horrendous traffic gridlock in Alabang, we left Los Baños at about 4:30 a.m. of Friday, October 25. We arrived in the condominium we are renting around 6 a.m. As early as 12 noon, my daughter and son-in-law, and my wife, all went to the hospital with my grandson (I wasn’t able to join them since I had several meetings to attend). They all thought they were early.
But when the office opened, it was only then that they were told that my grandson should have first obtained a blue card by passing through the Out-Patient Department (OPD), to have him examined there. They all went to the OPD, only to be told that the cut-off was 11 a.m.
And this is where my beef lies.
When I called the unit, I was never told of this requirement. I was only informed that the unit opens only on Fridays at 1 p.m. In fact, I was given the impression that a physician on duty was already stationed in the unit to examine my grandson. When my sister-in-law inquired, she was likewise not informed of this requirement. In fact, there is not even a sign in the unit that specifically instructs patients to first obtain a blue card from OPD.
I always follow the rules. Had we known that this was a requirement, we could have complied. After all, we were already in Manila as early as 6 a.m. We would not dare wake up early and travel from Laguna only to miss out complying with such an important requirement, and put all our efforts to waste.
I am angry at this government hospital’s lack of sensitivity to the fact that their patients are infants and young children, some of whom would probably be traveling from distant places. We were fortunate that we had our own means of transportation. What about those who have to commute using public conveyances?
It would just have taken whoever I talked to on the phone to inform me of the requirement and my two-week-old grandson and her mother, my daughter, would have been spared the ordeal. The hospital didn’t even care to know that my daughter was recovering from a caesarean section to offer her a wheelchair. It did not even have the sensitivity to realize the condition of a two-week-old infant with a cleft palate being exposed to germs in the OPD. All it would have taken was to assign one specialist in the unit to avoid
inconveniencing patients, who are mostly newborn, and let the blue cards be issued there, instead of them going to the OPD. After all, the unit opens only every Friday afternoon.
Our government offices, and not only public hospitals, are notorious in failing to give complete information about requirements at the time a citizen-client begins transacting with them. We cannot keep justifying the inconvenience that people endure with the fact that government hospitals provide cheaper, if not free, services. We cannot keep equating cheap or free with having to suffer through an ordeal. After all, the medical profession’s mantra is to always do no harm.
I am aware of the plight of government doctors and nurses who are saddled with low salaries, heavy workload and shortage of funds, that sometimes they end up using their own money to buy medical supplies. This is why I am with people who condemn the reduction of the budget for health. I also criticize the lack of adequate financial support for public hospitals.
But it behooves us to ask: How much would it cost to give patients and clients complete information as a sign of empathy so that infants and their post-operative mothers can be spared the ordeal and inconvenience of waking up early, traveling long distances and waiting for hours, only to be turned away? A million? A billion worth?
By the way, the hospital is the Philippine General Hospital.