Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro. | file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that they are now working closely with hospitals and health facilities in the region following an unfortunate incident at a hospital here.
A male COVID-19 patient of the facility leaped to his death from the third floor of the ND Building of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center on Tuesday, June 9, 2020.
Read: COVID-19 patient dies after jumping from hospital window
Ferro told the media during a call conference Wednesday afternoon, June 10, that they will be waiting for the directive of the hospital administrations as to how authorities can assist them to ensure that incidents like this won’t happen again.
Read: VSMMC urges compassion for COVID-19 patients amidst suicide incident
“First of all ang pag hikog sa Vicente Sotto nga incident beyond sa control sa atong police. It is the hospital administration that should have prevented that. But even if it’s not our mandate, we will coordinate with the different hospitals and health offices for the prevention of such incident,” said Ferro.
(First of all the suicide incident in Vicente Sotto was beyond the control of the police. It is the hospital administration that should have prevented that. But, even if it’s not our mandate, we will coordinate with the different hospitals and health offices for the prevention of such incident.)
Read: Police says no foul play found in VSMMC incident
He said one thing they are looking into is increasing police visibility in hospitals and isolation facilities.
“We are currently studying on putting up police visibility in our facilities, but our concentration is in the lockdown areas. But still, we will coordinate with the different hospitals so we can help them,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ferro ensured that those police officers who are tested positive of the virus are being monitored constantly, especially their mental health.
“We are always in close contact [with them] I see to it that I talk to them once in a while [to check] on their condition and to assure them that they won’t be left behind,” said Ferro.
Read: City dad to COVID-19 patients: Don’t be scared to seek help for mental health concerns
As of Wednesday, there are already 21 recoveries out of 57 police officers who tested positive of the virus. /bmjo