Police open for talks with Chong Hua hospital

POLICE Regional Office-Central Visayas Director Jose Mario Espino said he is open for a dialogue with a private hospital, which allegedly asked for a deposit before a wounded operative can be admitted.

The police official said he received the reply-letter of Dr. Helen Po, the medical director and chief operating officer of Chong Hua Hospital.

"It is very clear they are apologizing on what happened," he said in an interview with reporters Monday, October 23.

Espino said he relayed the letter to the Philippine National Police Legal Service for further study.

He had written the hospital a letter-complaint after it allegedly did not admit Police Officer 3 David Naraja Jr., who was hit in the face after he shot by alleged gun-for-hire Jessie Largo, who was also killed during the operation in Talisay City past 4 p.m. Monday, October 16.

READ: Jessie Largo killed in police shootout

"Upon reaching the hospital, the patient was immediately attended by the health care providers who were on duty at the time. However, unexpectedly, absent the assurance that the patient was outside an emergency condition, and having been informed that the latter should be confined for further medical procedures, we were demanded of a deposit to be paid to the hospital as a prerequisite for such medical procedures," a portion of Espino's letter read.

In Po's letter, she said they have conducted an investigation.

"Our findings will show that our institution was not in breach of the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law," she said.

She said it is "not the practice of Chong Hua Hospital to demand or ask any deposit prior to attending to any patient that arrives" in the emergency room.

"The partial payment quoted by the admitting staff was only for the room to be used upon admission and the ER bill already incurred. That this was misconstrued to be a prerequisite to treatment is very unfortunate. It is quite clear however that any amount quoted was not a condition precedent before the patient was attended to in the ER or a prerequisite to a CT Scan procedure," she said. (KAL/SunStar Cebu)