COVID-19 patient, 85, escapes from Pangasinan hospital

SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan, Philippines — The management of the Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC) in Dagupan City is in hot water after an 85-year-old man who tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) managed to escape from the hospital.

Mayor Kenneth Perez said the patient, a resident of Barangay Arzadon in this town, was brought by municipal health employees to the hospital on Aug. 30.

The patient was seen roaming in the vicinity of the municipal hall on Monday afternoon.

Perez said he ordered the municipal health officer to bring back the patient to the hospital, but a doctor at the R1MC called, saying the patient could not be readmitted.

“There was no reason given except that it was allegedly upon the order of R1MC higher-ups. I was surprised so I instructed our town doctor to just bring the patient to our isolation facility,” the mayor said.

Perez said he sought the assistance of the provincial board to conduct an inquiry into the incident.

Contact tracing of those who were exposed to the patient is ongoing.

Meanwhile, the outpatient department of the Rizal Provincial System Annex 2 is closed until today after 24 employees contracted the virus.

Portions of the Antipolo City Hospital Annex 4 in Barangay Mambugan were also closed after 18 medical workers were infected.

The operating and delivery rooms were closed over the weekend while the outpatient department will stop operations starting tomorrow until Wednesday.

As this developed, in Abra, two police officers who returned to their hometowns tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday.

One of those infected was a policewoman who went home to attend the burial of her father. She was quarantined at the Kalinga police office in Tabuk City with five of her colleagues who had earlier tested positive for the virus.

The other police officer spent his break in Boliney town from Aug. 14 to 31. He was found infected when he reported for work in Baguio City. – Emmanuel Tupas, Raymund Catindig