Doctors urged to explain death of 3-year-old patient

The Provincial Health Office (PHO) ordered two doctors of the Cebu Provincial Hospital (CPH)-Danao City to answer within 48 hours the allegations that their negligence resulted in the death of a three-year-old dengue patient.

Dr. Rene Catan, PHO chief, said the patient, James Francis Gulfan, was not immediately admitted in the hospital since one of the doctors said it wasn’t time yet. The boy and his family hail from Barangay Poblacion, Carmen.

Last. Nov. 29, Gulfan died from dengue complications. He would have been four years old on Friday, Dec. 7.

The boy’s mother, Aireen Manipis, said her son had a high fever last Nov. 25. The following day, he was brought to the health center in Poblacion and his parents were told to get his complete blood count (CBC).

The first CBC showed Gulfan had dengue fever as the platelet count was at 242. Later, the doctor at the health center advised Manipis and her live-in partner to bring the boy to CPH-Danao City.

Manipis said they brought her son to the hospital last Nov. 26, but the latter was not admitted.

For his part, Catan said the doctor at CPH-Danao City observed that the boy was still in good condition.

“The boy was okay physically, clinically. He sucked his mother’s milk. His platelet count was high,” he said in Cebuano.

The platelet count significantly dropped in the next hours, so the parents insisted that the boy be admitted.

Catan clarified that the emergency room’s medical team attended to Gulfan before the boy died.