Irresponsible and reckless.
The Makati Medical Center has denounced the actions of Senator Aquilino Pimentel, III who breached protocol of his own quarantine by accompanying his wife, Kathryna, to the delivery room.
The senator has earlier tested positive for COVID-19.
“We denounced the irresponsible and reckless act of the senator,” Medical Director and Interim Co-CEO Dr. Saturnino Javier said in an official statement posted in the Facebook page of the hospital.
Javier said that Pimentel, by being in the MMC, “unduly exposed health care workers to possible infection.”
“As a result, a number of our nurses and doctors may need to be quarantined, which will further deplete the dwindling workforce of the hospital,” he said.
The MMC added that as result of the senator’s actions, the entire Delivery Room Complex will have to undergo decontamination, and disinfection before it can be used.
The additional time for decontamination, and disinfection means that the hospital would be unable to respond to “in its most competent and aggressive manner to cope with the daunting challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak.”
Instead of being part of the solution, he created a problem, the hospital added.
In an interview published in CNN Philippines, the senator apologized for his actions, claiming that he did not learn of the positive result until he was in the hospital.
He claimed that he had no ill intent when he breached protocol since he felt that accompanying his wife to the hospital was an “essential trip”.
Under the guidelines of an enhanced community quarantine, medical emergencies are considered “essential”.
