In a protest yesterday, hospital staff and supporters urged the incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to intervene in the shut down of Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, the country’s sole hospital specializing in Maternal Health. According to the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW), they sent a letter to President-elect Duterte urging him to help them save the hospital.

The hospital is set to be closed today and the 1,300 employees and patients are supposed to be temporarily transferred to a 50 bed capacity Philippine Blood Center in Quezon City. The Department of Health (DOH) plans to transfer the hospital inside the DOH compound in Sta. Cruz, Manila. The AHW claims that construction for the new hospital has barely started.

Fabella Hospital, with its 700 bed capacity, handles 1000 obstetrical and gynecological in-patients daily. The public hospital is dubbed as “Paanakang Bayan” since most of its patients are indigents coming from Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Photos by Rolando Que

Alliance of Health Workers lead the protest at Fabella Hospital one day before the target abolition of the hostpital.
Health workers calls on Duterte to intervene in the Maternity Hospital's closure.
Students of University of the Philippines Manila, the country's top health sciences university, joined the call to save Fabella Hospital.
Protesting health workers slap President Noynoy Aquino and DOH Secretary Janette Garin.

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