Heart, kidney diseases leading cause of inmate deaths
Speaking to newsmen at the sidelines of a public health forum in Makati City, New Bilibid Prison (NBP) Hospital chief Henry Fabro said a shortage of doctors assigned to the prisoners worsens the problems at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City. (Pixabay photo)
MANILA — Prison officials on Wednesday said heart ailments, stroke and chronic kidney diseases remain the top cause of death among prisoners.
Speaking to newsmen at the sidelines of a public health forum in Makati City, New Bilibid Prison (NBP) Hospital chief Henry Fabro said a shortage of doctors assigned to the prisoners worsens the problems at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.
“We cannot confirm the exact number of TB –tuberculosis– patients who died, but right now the number one cause of death as of now is myocardial infraction which is atake sa puso, varied naman yung causes, nandyan yung stroke, may mga chronic kidney diseases, ‘yan ‘yung mga chronic na nag-a-undergo ng dialysis, as you all know when you’re undergoing dialysis, the endpoint should be, dapat sana mata-transplant, (that is heart attacks, there are varied causes including strokes and chronic kidney disease. By chronic it means those who undergo dialysis which have the endpoint of needing a transplant),” Fabro said.
Servicing 19,000 persons deprived of liberty (PDLs), Fabro said there are only five doctors at the NBP Hospital, who are a part of 13 members of the Bureau of Corrections’ (Bucor) medical staff nationwide and who are assisted by around 40 nurses.
He said they conveyed this concern to BuCor Director General Gerald Bantag and to the DOH.
“In the maximum security, we have at least 18,000 PDLs, and we only have four doctors, five doctors in the hospital, to think the hospital is not that well equipped to manage those kinds of problems, kaya nakahingi kami ng tulong ni Director General, firstly sa DOH, na bigyan kami ng additional doctors or tulungan kami to acquire equipment for the hospitals (That is why we are asking the Department of Health to help us with additional doctors or to help acquire equipment for the hospital),” he said.
The ill-equipped hospital has set the NBP at a critical rate in terms of deaths of PDLs throughout the years.
Meanwhile, in jails operated by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) under the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the ratio of full-time physicians compared to the detainee population is worse.
Those detained at the BJMP jails are PDLs with pending cases before the courts.
Senior Inspector Paul Borlongan, BJMP Medical Inspector, said in all jails operating nationwide, the PDL population of more than 136,000 suffers a low of 300 to 800 PDL deaths a year.
“Ang cause of death according to our studies ay dahil sa non communicable diseases, hypertension, heart attack, brain attack (The causes of death are non-communicable diseases, hypertension, heart attack, brain attacks),” Borlongan said.
He added that out of 478 facilities nationwide, there are only 12 doctors and two psychiatrists who are complemented by 1,200 nurses.
Bantag, meanwhile, said the government is trying to ease congestion in jails and called on other government agencies to streamline the computation of time actually served by PDLs to facilitate the release of those entitled to return to society.
He also welcomed proposals by jailed Senator Leila de Lima for a legislative inquiry on health issues of PDLs.
“That is good so we can see the truth about the problem,” Bantag added.
