HONTIVEROS
SEN. Risa Hontiveros asked the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) to investigate Chong Hua Hospital for supposedly refusing to admit for treatment a police officer who got injured in an operation.
During yesterday’s 888 News Forum, Hontiveros said she asked for a meeting with Chief Supt. Jose Mario Espino, PRO-7 chief, and the DOH-7 office to discuss the case.
She said the hospital’s refusal to admit PO3 David Naraja Jr. after he was unable to produce a cash deposit may constitute a violation of the Enhanced Anti-Hospital Deposit Law.
Naraja Jr. was shot in the face by murder suspect Jessie Largo who tried to elude pursuing police in an operation in Talisay City last Oct. 16.
The senator was in Cebu as one of the key speakers in a youth conference on family planning.
Hontiveros said stricter penalties under the enhanced AHDL include imprisonment of up to four to six years and fines ranging from P100,000 to P1 million. Repeat violators can also lose their license to operate, she said.
Hontiveros said she will also talk with the hospital management on the case. Chong Hua Hospital denied refusing admission to Naraja.
It said the policeman’s family merely “misinterpreted” the hospital’s partial billing amount quoted by its staff as a demand for deposit.
Naraja was later transferred to the Cebu Doctors’ Hospital where his hospital expenses were covered by the hospital management.
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