Medical association expresses support to Makati Med regarding breach of COVID-19 protocol issue
By Richa Noriega
“The PMA is one with the doctors and nurses of MMC whose health, if not their lives, were placed at risk when Sen. Pimentel ignored the COVID-19 protocol of the hospital,” PMA said in a statement on Thursday.
The medical association said it understands how the senator felt for his pregnant wife, however, as a person of his stature “he should have placed above all the well-being of the health workforce who are already working so hard to help curb the problem of the COVID-19 menace.”
PMA underscored that there is a dwindling number of frontline doctors and nurses, that is why “we could not afford more of this to happen.”
It calls upon government officials to refrain from “being treated as VIP’s and follow protocols amid COVID-19 pandemic."
On Wednesday, MMC denounced the “irresponsible and reckless action” of Pimentel, who tested positive for COVID-19, for accompanying his pregnant wife on Tuesday night (March 24) for delivery via caesarean section, breaching the strict infection and containment protocols of the MMC Delivery Room.
The senator apologized to MMC in an interview with CNN Philippines, also on Wednesday night.
“I am very sorry that this thing happened,” Pimentel said.
He also appealed for understanding following the backlash on his decision to accompany his pregnant wife to MMC despite having undergone COVID-19 testing.
READ MORE: Makati Med slams Pimentel’s breach of their COVID-19 protocols; Pimentel apologizes, asks for ‘understanding’