Malabon hospital limits ops anew after pregnant woman didn’t disclose COVID-19 status

MANILA, Philippines — The Ospital ng Malabon (OsMal) will be closing its second floor after it was found that a pregnant woman did not disclose that she came from a barangay that was placed under total lockdown due to the number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in the area.

Mayor Lenlen Oreta announced this on Tuesday via Facebook, saying that the second floor of the public hospital will be closed from May 20 to 24.

The second floor of the hospital houses the Ob-Gyne, delivery room, surgery and pedia ward. The area will be decontaminated by sanitary workers.

This was after a pregnant woman, who was about to give birth, concealed that she was from Barangay 12 in neighboring Caloocan, which was placed under total lockdown.

“Pagdating sa OsMal, nagsagawa ng Rapid Testing ang mga nag-asikaso sa kanya na health workers at dito nalaman na positive siya,” Oreta said.

(Upon arriving at OsMal, the woman went through Rapid Testing and health workers later found out that she tested positive.)

“For swabbing na rin ang pasyente para sa confirmatory test upang malaman kung isa na siyang confirmed COVID-19 patient,” he added.

(She will also undergo swabbing to know if she is indeed a confirmed COVID-19 patient.)

Because of this, the City Legal is preparing charges against the woman for violating Section 9 of Republic Act 11332 or the “Mandatory Reporting of Notifiable Diseases and Health Events of Public Health Concern Act”, Oreta said.

Previously, OsMal limited some of its operations after four of its workers tested positive for the coronavirus.