NBI given until April 24 to finish probe on N. Ecija hospitals

FILE: Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Thursday (Sept. 5, 2019). (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA – Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said Thursday the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been given 10 days to investigate reports of six Nueva Ecija hospitals that allegedly refused admission to a sick senior citizen who later died at home.

“We’ll give them (NBI) 10 days or until April 24, more or less,” Guevarra said in a message to reporters.

He added that the instructions to the NBI were given through Justice Undersecretary Adrian Sugay on Tuesday, a day after President Rodrigo Duterte mentioned the incident in his latest national address.

Guevarra said that if allegations were proven to be true, the hospital personnel involved may be charged with violation of Republic Act 8344, which penalizes the refusal of hospitals to administer initial medical treatment in emergency cases, as strengthened by Republic Act 10932 or the act boosting the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law.

These laws provide stiffer penalties and provide that it is unlawful for any hospital or medical clinic officials or employees to refuse to administer medical treatment to prevent death or permanent disability or to request, solicit, demand or accept any deposit or any other form of advance payment as a prerequisite for medical treatment.

Reports earlier quoted Girlie Cabling-Cagaoanan as saying her father, 65-year-old Ladislao Cabling, who had difficulty breathing died after he was refused admission by six different hospitals that claimed they no longer had vacant beds in their Intensive Care Unit (ICU) wards.

In a televised speech Monday night, President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered hospitals to accept all patients, including those suspected of being infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Duterte said he would also ask the DOJ to prosecute hospital officials who reject patients.

He said hospitals that refuse to accept patients may face suspension.