A man whose baby died in the hospital was forced to walk home with his son’s corpse because he couldn’t get a ride home.
According to a story on The Daily Tribune website, Rodel Canas, 23 years old, took his wife to the Rizal Medical Center in Pasig City where she gave birth prematurely last March 11,200. The baby was diagnosed with congenital heart disease and survived for about a month before succumbing to pneumonia resulting from severe sepsis just over a month later. Sepsis occurs when the body’s response to infection gets out of hand, causing infection of the blood and damages multiple organ systems and death.
Canas, who is a construction worker, was reportedly billed P245,000 by the hospital to cover the delivery and confinement. He sought the help of Thelma P. Ramirez, the barangay chairman of Makati East Rembo, who gave him a certificate of indigency to help with the hospital bill.
Staff members then reportedly gave Canas his son’s body in a box wrapped with packaging tape. The father was then forced to walk all the way home to Makati because there was no available means of transportation.
According to Makati East Rembo's Facebook page, Ramirez arranged for the cremation of Rodel's son after she was told that he planned to bury the baby in a vacant lot at the compound they were renting. She also offered financial assistance and food packs from the Makati Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWD).
Public transportation has been suspended in Metro Manila since the imposition of the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine in mid-March.
This story originally appeared on Esquiremag.ph.
*Minor edits have been made by the SmartParenting.com.ph editors.
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