Lawmaker wants privatization of Fabella hospital probed

Fearing a shift from its current role as the country’s biggest maternity hospital to a beauty enhancement facility for foreign tourists, Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmi De Jesus has called for an investigation into the reported privatization of the Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila.

“It is the Constitutional responsibility of government to improve, develop and modernize public hospitals and public health services but doing this should be in the service of the people, not for the interests of profit-oriented investors and rich clients,” De Jesus said in a statement Thursday.

De Jesus added that the Aquino administration's Public Private Partnership projects should not be used as framework for developing state-owned health facilities because the welfare of the majority of poor Filipinos will be made the last priority, while high profit rates are guaranteed in the contract with the private firms that take over the hospitals.

The hospital, which has been in talks for modernization since 2011, holds 700 beds. Around 100 mothers a day give birth at the Fabella, earning it the monicker of the “baby factory” of the Philippines.

According to the labor union Alliance of Health Workers, six bidders participated in the June 2013 public bidding for the building of the new Fabella. The former city jail compound which the hospital is leasing will be rebuilt as a commercial property of the Light Railway Transit.

A new building proposed for the hospital at the Department of Health (DOH) compound is intended only for 400 patients, almost half of the 700 beds in the current location, De Jesus said, adding the move will further marginalize the poor and prevent them from accessing affordable health care.

Tricycle, convenience store births?

The move to cut beds might lead to women giving birth in unusual areas, De Jesus warned, saying a lack of affordable maternity hospitals is not in conjunction with the government’s push for universal healthcare.

“Even now, as the government is already banning home births and passing city ordinances penalizing midwives who provide cheap birthing services, almost every week we hear of women giving birth in taxis and trains. With this privatization of the Fabella, we are sure that poor mothers will experience further hardships in seeking inexpensive natal care for their families. Expect more babies to be born in pedicabs and convenience stores,” De Jesus said.

“The cuts in beds will ensure further hikes in the maternal mortality rate that rendered the Philippines a major flunker of the Millennium Development Goal to reduce risks of pregnancies and births,” she added.

In her statement, the lawmaker said she will also call on other members of the House of Representatives to investigate reports that even the proposed relocation facility in the DOH compound will have beds reserved for beauty treatments.

“[We are] planning to investigate reports that even a portion of this reduced bed count is actually intended for the medical tourism market that caters to foreigners seeking beauty enhancement treatments, instead of mother-and-child health among the poor,” she said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News