Pregnant woman dies after being asked to go to another hospital

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said on Monday that the city government would look into the case of a 23-year-old woman who died after giving birth at the government-run Santa Ana Hospital at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 22.

Domagoso also ordered that Myra Morga’s body be autopsied.

Around 8 a.m. on Oct. 21, Morga checked into another government hospital, Ospital ng Sampaloc, only to be told she needed to go to a better-equipped facility.

Her case went viral after footage taken by a closed-circuit television camera showed her later in the afternoon, getting off an ambulance and crossing the street toward Santa Ana Hospital.

She gave birth around midnight but her baby was already dead. Morga died two hours later with the death certificate stating that she died of excessive bleeding, very severe anemia and abruptio placentae.

Ospital ng Sampaloc director Aileen Lacsamana was at city hall on Monday after she was summoned by Domagoso. She explained that when Morga arrived at the facility, the attending physician could not detect a heartbeat in her baby, a result later confirmed through an ultrasound.

Lacsamana said that Morga did not have records of prenatal checkups at their hospital.

“Our facility is a primary care hospital with limitations in terms of capacity. Because of that, the obstetrician told [Morga] that with her condition, she must go to a bigger hospital,” Lacsamana told the media.

She added that they would investigate why the ambulance did not drop off the victim directly at Santa Ana Hospital and forward the results to the city government.