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Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati on Friday ordered the
closure of the nursery and delivery rooms of city-owned Ospital ng
Makati following the deaths of 25 babies there from neonatal sepsis,
or bacteria infection among newborns.
A fact-finding team was already
formed to look into the cases.
“If we find negligence on the
part of hospital staff and personnel, the city government will
definitely file the proper cases against them,” Binay said.
Hospital chief of clinic, Dr.
Ramoncito Coronel, said that among the 273 deliveries last month, 45
cases of newborn sepsis were confirmed to have been diagnosed,
claiming 25 fatalities.
“The figure is large and
alarming,” said Department of Health-National Epidemiology Center
Chief Dr. Eric Tayag. “It could mean the involvement of negligence
on the hospital’s part.”
For infants being treated in the
facility, Binay directed the hospital to evaluate their cases, and
see if they could be discharged or transferred to another facility
or another hospital.
Coronel and Tayag explained that
pre-natal checkup could also avert cases of newborn sepsis.
“Birth spacing is important.
The mother may not be prepared to have a baby or is premature,”
said Tayag, “It is during the pre-natal check up that we prepare
expectant mothers before delivering their babies.”
Coronel said that newborn sepsis
is “unavoidable” in a statistical sense, but is usually
controllable.
“Sometimes, mothers don’t
undergo [the] necessary pre-natal checkups, and end up having
premature babies who have weak immune systems and are susceptible to
infection,” he said.
--Jayson Cruz Luna
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