{"id":251992,"date":"2020-04-14T05:26:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T09:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=251992"},"modified":"2020-04-14T05:26:38","modified_gmt":"2020-04-14T09:26:38","slug":"hospitals-must-accept-patients-duterte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/04\/14\/hospitals-must-accept-patients-duterte\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospitals must accept patients: Duterte"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte holds a meeting with some members of the Inter-Agency Task Force on the Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) at the Malago Clubhouse in Malaca\u00f1ang on April 8, 2020. TOTO LOZANO\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered hospitals to accept all patients, including those suspected of being infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).<\/p>\n

Duterte made the statement following reports of a patient in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija who died after being rejected by six hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cLahat na magkasakit<\/em>\u00a0(All those who get sick), heart attack, appendicitis,\u00a0pumutok ang kung anong puputok diyan, pumutok \u2018yung utak<\/em>\u00a0(ruptured brain), especially government hospital, my order is: must accept admission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The President said hospitals that refuse to accept patients may face suspension.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou fail on that, I will relieve all of you\u00a0sa<\/em>\u00a0(at the) hospital and you can consider yourself suspended because the written order will follow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte said he would also ask the Department of Justice to prosecute hospital officials who reject patients.<\/p>\n

As of Monday, there were 4,932 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the country and 315 deaths.<\/p>\n

The state-run Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) will pay for the medical expenses of health workers and hospitalized persons under monitoring and patients under investigation (PUMs\/PUIs) for Covid-19.<\/p>\n

PhilHealth, however, will not cover self-administered tests since these did not undergo the required laboratory procedure in hospitals, clinics, and certified testing centers identified by the Department of Health.<\/p>\n

No discrimination<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Duterte also ordered the Philippine National Police to arrest persons committing discriminatory acts against health workers on the front line against Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d like to order the police. If there\u2019s a report of somebody harassing or facing a discriminatory act, you arrest the person.\u00a0Huwag mong bitawan hanggang hindi ko sinabi na bitawan<\/em>\u00a0(Don\u2019t let them go until I say, \u2018Let them go,\u2019)\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte reminded the public that health workers should not be discriminated against because they are the ones who take care of the sick.<\/p>\n

\u201cPag tinamaan kayo ng<\/em>\u00a0(Covid-19),\u00a0didiretso kayo sa ospital pagka grabe na kayo. Sinong nagsusugal ng buhay nila doon? \u2018Yung mga<\/em>\u00a0doctor,\u00a0pati \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a0health workers (If you get infected with Covid-19, you\u2019ll go straight to the hospital. Who will risk their lives there? Doctors and health workers),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Duterte also encouraged health workers to seek assistance from the police in reaching their destination since mass transport is suspended under the quarantine measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you feel tired or just want to go easy, you flag down any police, military or police and my order is this: Give them a lift.\u00a0Tumulong kayo sa kapwa tao natin<\/em>\u00a0(Help our fellow citizens),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Last week, Cabinet Secretary and IATF spokesperson Karlo Nograles said discriminatory acts include \u201ccoercion, libel, slander, physical injuries, and the dishonor of contractual obligations, such as contracts of lease or employment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Violators will be slapped with criminal, civil, and administrative charges, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered hospitals to accept all patients, including those suspected of being infected with the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":251664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-251992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-azer-parrocha","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=251992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251993,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251992\/revisions\/251993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}