An investigation is underway after a couple visiting their newborn son found his mouth had been taped shut.
Rye Kido, whose five-day-old baby boy Yohannes Noval was in a nursery in a private maternity hospital in Cebu, the Philippines, posted images of his son on Facebook.
The pictures – showing the tiny baby with what looks like clear sellotape or medical tape over his mouth – have gone viral, as has Kido’s account of what happened to his son.
Baby Yohannes Noval was just five-days-old when he was found with his mouth taped up in a nursery at a private maternity hospital
He writes: “Meet my son… he cannot speak about his horrific experience… so we have to speak out for him.
“If you think your new born babies are safe, think again. Your babies could be silent victims and you will never really know about it!”
In a longer post he asks: “Would you tolerate this? I’m the father of this baby and I CANNOT and WILL NOT tolerate this bullshit.”
The baby’s parents say they were informed he had been gagged because he was ‘too noisy’
The baby was discovered “gagged” by his mother Jasmine Janice – who, upon asking the nurse why her son had tape over his mouth – says she was informed: “Your baby was too noisy (crying) so I put that over his mouth…”
On further examination, it was found the baby had a wet nappy – possibly a factor as to why he as crying.
When she asked for the tape to be removed, the baby’s mother says she was told: “You can go ahead and take it off yourself, ma’am.”
Kido adds: “After Jasmine tried to take the plaster tape off his mouth without success, the attending nurse had to eventually take it off herself and eventually do it and in the process a piece of his upper lip’s skin ripped off with the tape as the nurse removed the tape.”
Kido added: “This probably not an isolated incident so we cannot really say your babies are safe at this establishment. What most people don’t see in the nursery room is very different from what’s actually happening behind closed doors.
“They handle your children there like puppies out of a dog pound. I personally have seen this with my own eyes and I am very surprised this is what people call ‘a respectable establishment’.”
The couple have complained about their son’s treatment.
