Thursday, May 01, 2008 Medical team seeks more time to answer complaint over Jan-Jan operation By Nancy R. Cudis Sun.Star Staff Reporter
VICENTE Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) doctors and nurses asked to explain their action during a controversial surgery have asked for more time to submit their answers.
VSMMC Chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino confirmed this in a phone conversation last night. He said the medical workers have asked for three more days to submit their answers, which were due Tuesday. He said that the VSMMC’s investigating committee granted their request.
The doctors and nurses were given a show-cause letter over the investigation on the spread of a video showing doctors and nurses laughing and shouting during the extraction of a canister from a patient’s rectum last January.
DOH initially identified last week five persons involved in the surgery: Dr. Philips Leo Arias, head surgeon; Dr. Angelo Alinawagan, assistant surgeon; Dr. Max Joseph Montecillo, surgeon (assigned to an adjacent operating room); Rosemarie Villareal, nursing attendant; and Carmina Sapio, circulating nurse.
The hospital’s fact-finding committee recommended that an administrative case for possible violation of RA 6713, the code of conduct of public officials, be filed against them.
The additional names later reported—Dr. Marlowe Parreño; operating room nurse supervisor Isabelita Remulta; senior operating room nurse Consuelo Tecling; and senior operating room nurse-on-call Ida Sumayang—were “sternly warned” by the committee and told to be more cautious in their duties.
All nine of them have been given show-cause letters, asking them to explain why no administrative charges should be filed against them. Their deadline for the answer was last Tuesday.
Once the explanations are submitted to Aquino, he and other officials will evaluate them and check if there will be bases for the filing of an administrative complaint against them, said Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Dr. Elaine Teleron.
Teleron said that if a complaint is filed, VSMMC will conduct a hearing and its findings will be reviewed by the DOH central office.
Yesterday, Basak-Pardo Barangay Captain Dave Tumulak said he got a letter sent through a courier company accusing Aquino of mismanagement.
But sources labeled it as a poison letter, one of several circulating against hospital officials.
Although the letter-writer simply signed it as “OR STAFF,” he overlooked the fact that the courier company includes the signed receipt with the packager.
Tumulak refused to disclose the name of the letter sender who signed the receipt.
Tumulak said he verified the name with the hospital and learned that the sender, who is male, is really a member of the OR staff.
“The main reason why Dr. Gerardo M. Aquino, Jr. refuses to see you is because his daughter, a nurse trainee, was also inside the operating room. There were many people, not only five, as earlier reported,” the letter stated.
Aquino, when contacted by Sun.Star Cebu, denied this and said hospital records will show that she was not inside the operating room during the procedure.
“Yes, officially, my daughter is a nurse trainee (at VSMMC for three months). She was on duty at the time of the operation but she was not present during the operation,” he said.
The letter also accused Aquino of mismanaging the hospital.
In an interview, Auino said he suspects the letter writer to be among those affected by changes he implemented at the VSMMC.
Nonoy Mongaya, VSMMC media liaison committee member, told Sun.Star Cebu last night that the accusation of mismanagement is not true.
He said that VSMMC, under Aquino, did “strict institutionalization of all policies, improvement in the physical set-up of the hospital, and hiring of more manpower to meet the daily demands that their services offer.”
Mongaya said Aquino abided by and implemented the rules and recommendations by Commission on Audit (COA).
“He is the only chief who transformed VSMMC into what it is today. His office hours is from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but he makes the rounds at the hospitals at random, like 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., to check the services rendered, so that he could see what is happening, from a proper perspective as a manager of the hospital,” Mongaya said.
Sun.Star Cebu called up several offices at the VSMMC and was told that Aquino does conduct routine rounds at the hospital.
When asked, they said they have no complaints on Aquino’s running of the facility and said they have seen improvements in their workplace.
Mongaya, meanwhile, said that what Tumulak got is similar to the poison letters Dr. Aquino received even as early as after Sun.Star Cebu ran a story about VSMMC losing an estimated P100 million in 2006 because of graft.
The story came out in July 24, 2007. Aquino, who became hospital chief in December 2006, corrected the the report saying this amount was the “projected income” of the VSMMC.
Mongaya said they are trying to identify the people behind the poison letters, whose signatures bear different references but have the same format.
Aquino denied that he is covering up the now controversial surgery saying he immediately had the incident investigated. He also told the committee to come up with a comprehensive investigation, including identifying the persons involved.
“My conscience is clear. I have no instructions to cover up the incident. And I am not afraid. The truth will come out. It’s unfortunate that my daughter will be dragged into this when she is not involved. She was not present during the operation. The letter is poisonous in nature. Unfair pud sa akong paningkamot sa akong trabaho (This is unfair, considering how hard I work.),” he said.
