ILOILO City – A “lesson”. This was how Mayor Jerry Treñas described an unfortunate incident at the city’s quarantine facility on Jalandoni Street – a 23-year-old pregnant coronavirus-positive woman giving birth on Wednesday. She was left on her own, an indignant relative claimed.
Treñas denied the allegation but acknowledged that the quarantine facility – the no longer functional St. Therese MTCC Hospital – was not equipped to handle such a case.
The facility nevertheless accommodated the pregnant woman because no hospital would take her in, according to the mayor.
The video of the woman giving birth went viral. An angry sister-in-law posted it on Facebook, claiming the woman was left to give birth on her own.
“Pag-positive ka nga manugbata, indi ka na pag i-assist? May mga balatyagon pa kamo? May concern pa kamo sa tawo? O concern lang sa bulsa libog n’yo? Problema gid sa Pinas kun wala kwarta indi ka pagsapakon. Fifty-fifty kabuhi mo sa ospital nga wala may gasapak! Bash niyo post ko, wala ko labot,” according to the sister-in-law, Jo Ellaine Alayon.
Treñas insisted that the woman was not neglected.
There were two doctors at the quarantine facility but the woman’s delivery on Wednesday was unexpected; she was supposed to give birth on Oct. 17 yet.
“This is a lesson for us. We will not accept any pregnant (coronavirus) positive patients again,” said Treñas.
According to Alayon, her sister-in-law was simply told to “inhale-exhale.”
“Ano na ang sitwasyon sang mga gabusong nga manugbata? Parehas sa sitwasyon sang bayaw ko? Matyag niyo ‘ya sapat lang ‘ya sila. Kapila na sia maghambal mabulwak na tiyan ‘ya, magwa na bata ‘ya, wala niyo sa kalag,” she lamented on Facebook.
In a statement, Treñas clarified: “On the allegation that the male doctor ran away, he explained that he got his gloves before he could apply medical procedures (on the pregnant woman).”
The mayor nevertheless vowed to review the protocols at the quarantine facility for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to avoid a repeat of what happened.
For his part, the city government’s COVID Team spokesperson Jeck Conlu said that as per Department of Health protocols here, pregnant women must be taken to the Western Visayas Sanitarium in Santa Barbara, Iloilo.
The pregnant woman was initially taken there but she was refused, according to Conlu, so the city’s quarantine facility on Jalandoni Street took her in.
“I will have this investigated – why (the Sanitarium) was not able to accept this patient,” said Treñas.
Medical officers of the quarantine facility stressed that proper protocols have to be strictly followed for the safety of everyone. They submitted an incident report and offered a timeline of the incident.
* 9 a.m. – Doctors and nurses assessed the patient after complaining of labor pains. They donned personal protective equipment (PPE) and did an Internal Exam (IE), and continued the monitoring.
* 12:15 p.m. – Patient complained the pain’s persistence. Medical personnel explained what’s good for both the mother and baby. She was transferred to a long sofa. She was instructed to do deep breathing exercises, walk, and for her folks to do back rub to temporize the pain. A personnel called Western Visayas Medical Center COVID OB-Gyne Triage five times. Nurses on duty also called the Iloilo City Emergency Response (ICER) to be on standby. Clear instructions were given to the patient not to push hard because her cervix was not yet fully dilated. With 3cm cervical dilatation, pushing is not recommended because of the risk for cervical laceration and this was explained to the patient and folks. Internal examination must not be done too frequent so as not to introduce infection. It must be done at least every hour. However, ruptured Bag of Water is something that cannot be controlled and can precipitate to active labor and eventual delivery.”
* 1:15 p.m. – The patient’s Bag of Water ruptured. ICER was called for immediate transport of the patient to WVMC through OB-Gyne Resident’s personal phone number for endorsement. Medical personnel were on the process of donning PPEs to go inside the patient’s room. The baby was eventually delivered at around 1:30 p.m.
* 1:45 p.m. – Patient was transferred to WVMC.
A provision in Department of Health’s (DOH) Department Memorandum No. 2020-0261 (Interim Guidelines on the Continuous Provision of Maternal Health Services during COVID-19 Pandemic) issued by Secretary Francisco Duque III on May 28, 2020 stated: “All pregnant women who are about to deliver and those who have delivered but manifesting signs of complication shall not, under any circumstance, be refused admission by the health facility. However, infection control protocols shall be strictly followed, including use of appropriate personal protective equipment.”/PN
