More indigent pregnant women will be in danger giving birth after June 8, 2016. That is the fatal day when the government-run maternity hospital Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital (Fabella Hospital) in Manila will no longer service poor pregnant women. Fabella Hospital, the public maternity hospital for the poor, is included in the government’s PPP (public-private partnership) program where state hospitals are part of a“modernization and corporatization” project. Its Php743-million contract was awarded to J.D. Legaspi Construction to design and build the new Fabella hospital.

According to national statistics, 11 Filipino women die every day because of pregnancy-related complications. The privatization move will further deprive poor women of their much-needed maternal health and childcare. It will likely further increase maternal mortality rate. Currently, there is one born every minute in Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital. Three mothers are crammed in one bed. Despite this cramped condition, poor pregnant women still flock to the hospital as it remains as the most affordable maternity hospital in the country.

Poor women fear that Fabella Hospital will increase fees with the looming privatization. The country’s long experience in privatization warns us that prices shot up once the private sector comes in. This is already happening with electricity and water services delivery. The Department of Health’s earlier explanation that Fabella is only up for corporatization or modernization and not for privatization is just a play on words. The tragic end-result is a big profit for the private sector while more women are denied access to maternal health and childcare.

Fabella hospital director Dr. Esmeraldo Ilem has announced the end-of-contract for resident doctors. Several other hospital staff will be deployed to the Lung Center Compound.

As long as the government’s mindset is making health service as a profit-making business, more than 11 women will die every day.

That is why we, the undersigned, call on the Philippine government authorities to:

Stop the closure of Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital in Manila on June 8!
Stop the privatization of Dr. Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital!
Stop the privatization of the 23 government-owned and controlled national hospitals in the Philippines!