OsMak clarifies Napoles’ discharge order

We take exception to the claim of a police official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) “tried to pass off an antedated release order for alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles” and that “OsMak officials apparently wanted to escape blame for Napoles’ continued stay at the public hospital” (“Janet hospital scored over ‘antedated’ order,” News, 5/16/14).

A discharge order was issued on May 6, 2014. This order was written on the patient’s chart. The document presented to the police team securing Napoles last May 12 was not a release order or a discharge clearance. Once a discharge order is issued, the patient must have his/her release processed through the hospital’s finance unit, the entity that issues a discharge clearance.

Apparently, Napoles did not comply with the release procedure because she had filed in court a motion requesting an extension of her hospital stay. In effect, no release order was issued.

The OsMak would like to reiterate: Janet Lim Napoles can leave the hospital anytime after she was ordered discharged, and this has been relayed to the Philippine National Police detail assigned to her. While Napoles opted not to have her release processed, she can still be pulled out anytime (if needed or required) by simply executing a promissory note. The matter of her continued stay at the OsMak is up to the courts, and not to the hospital management.

We are not trying to make it appear that the police were not doing their job to immediately transport Napoles back to her detention facility, as claimed by the unnamed police official in the article. We would like to believe that this is simply a miscommunication among our people, and we hope that this letter would shed light on the matter.

—PERRY G. PERALTA, MD, FPCEM, FPSCCM,medical director,

Ospital ng Makati