BY FELIPE CELINO
ROXAS City — Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Remia Bartolome asked Gov. Victor Tanco Sr. to create a fact-finding committee that will investigate the death of six-year-old Jen Fred Aranzado of Brgy. Majanlud, Sapian town. Jen Fred was said to have died due to the alleged negligence of personnel in the government-run Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital (RMPH).
ROXAS City — Sangguniang Panlalawigan member Remia Bartolome asked Gov. Victor Tanco Sr. to create a fact-finding committee that will investigate the death of six-year-old Jen Fred Aranzado of Brgy. Majanlud, Sapian town. Jen Fred was said to have died due to the alleged negligence of personnel in the government-run Roxas Memorial Provincial Hospital (RMPH).
The committee should also zero in on the RMPH personnel and the hospital’s system in admitting patients, Bartolome said.
Shedding tears while reading her privilege speech the other day, Bartolome said there is an urgent need for a thorough probe on the incident.
“It would be of great help if the chief executive creates a fact-finding committee of seven members to investigate the matter to determine the persons liable, if any,” said Bartolome, chair of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
The Board member made the call after receiving a letter from Jen Fred’s father, Rene, who was seeking justice for his son’s death.
Jen Fred fell from a tree on New Year’s Eve and sustained severe abdominal injuries.
He was first taken to the Capiz Emmanuel Hospital (CEH) but was later transferred to the RMPH.
His parents did not have P30,000, which, they said, the CEH was asking as down payment.
But no doctor attended to Jen Fred when they entered the RMPH; some nurses merely checked his vital signs, Rene said.
Jose Villanueva, the provincial legal officer, said the Capitol will act on Bartolome’s request.
To be included in the probe is the complaint of a mother of a two-week-old baby from Cuartero who said the RMPH refused to admit them because they lacked a referral from the governor, he said.
“But we consider the case of (Jen Fred) Aranzado a serious matter that should be given more attention,” said Villanueva, the concurrent provincial administrator.
The RMPH had started an investigation on the alleged negligence of some of its personnel.
There will be no whitewash in the probe; whoever is responsible will be penalized, assured RMPH chief of hospital, Dr. Ma. Celini Bauson.
Tanco earlier ordered an investigation on Jen Fred’s death, and vowed to reorganize the RMPH’s personnel and system in admitting patients.
“This is no longer good,” he said. “We have to do something to instill the faith of the people who seek medical assistance in our government hospital.”
