Halaman

    Social Items

SEN. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd on Wednesday revealed that he tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Pimentel was the second senator who got infected by Covid-19, after Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri whose self-quarantine will end on March 26.

“I was informed late last night, March 24, 2020, that I have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. The swab was taken last Friday, March 20, 2020,” Pimentel said in a statement. “I have quarantined myself upon the doctor’s advice and consistent with the protocol. I feel I am, with God’s help, on the way to recovery,” he said.

But the Makati Medical Center (MMC) denounced Pimentel for accompanying his pregnant wife, Kathryna, to the hospital despite knowing that he is already considered a person under investigation.

In a statement, the MMC said Pimentel violated his home quarantine protocol when he brought his wife to the hospital for delivery via cesarean section.

MMC Director Saturnino Javier said Pimentel breached the hospital’s strict infection and containment protocols when he entered the premises of the hospital’s delivery room and “unduly exposed healthcare 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.

“We denounce the irresponsible and reckless action of the senator. He added to the burden of a hospital trying to respond in its most competent and aggressive manner to cope with the daunting challenges of this Covid-19 outbreak,” Javier said.

“The involved healthcare workers have been duly identified, evaluated, and will be quarantined, if the risk of exposure warrants it,” Javier said.

Pimentel, however, denied allegations that he loitered around the MMC and entered the delivery room. He was at the MMC on Tuesday to accompany his wife, Kathryna, when he got a call from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), which confirmed that he contracted Covid-19.

His wife was scheduled to undergo a caesarian operation on Wednesday, but it was canceled.

“Yes [I accompanied her to the hospital] as she was [scheduled] to give birth this morning.

I received the call from RITM when I was already in the hospital last night hence I left immediately,” Pimentel said.

The senator also clarified that Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd “had nothing to do with our getting a room at the hospital.”

He said he had fever, cough and slight sore throat.

Pimentel’s wife defended her husband from bashers amid reports in social media that he
“lied” about his condition when he talked to the doctors.

“Sen. Koko never entered the delivery room of Makati Med. He went with me sa Makati Med yesterday to be admitted not knowing he was Covid positive yet. Then RITM called him around 9 p.m. that he was positive. But he was just in the room. As soon as he found out he was positive he left me and told my OB (obstetrician) about his situation,” Kathryna said.

The senator has asked for prayers, especially for his wife, “who is about to give birth in the next few days to our first baby girl, and with whom I cannot be at this very important point in our lives as parents.”

He expressed his profound gratitude to frontline medical workers who put their lives at risk on a daily basis to bring a halt to this pandemic. “They are the true heroes in this fight.”

Koko Pimentel tests positive, bashed

SEN. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd on Wednesday revealed that he tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

Pimentel was the second senator who got infected by Covid-19, after Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri whose self-quarantine will end on March 26.

“I was informed late last night, March 24, 2020, that I have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus. The swab was taken last Friday, March 20, 2020,” Pimentel said in a statement. “I have quarantined myself upon the doctor’s advice and consistent with the protocol. I feel I am, with God’s help, on the way to recovery,” he said.

But the Makati Medical Center (MMC) denounced Pimentel for accompanying his pregnant wife, Kathryna, to the hospital despite knowing that he is already considered a person under investigation.

In a statement, the MMC said Pimentel violated his home quarantine protocol when he brought his wife to the hospital for delivery via cesarean section.

MMC Director Saturnino Javier said Pimentel breached the hospital’s strict infection and containment protocols when he entered the premises of the hospital’s delivery room and “unduly exposed healthcare 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.

“We denounce the irresponsible and reckless action of the senator. He added to the burden of a hospital trying to respond in its most competent and aggressive manner to cope with the daunting challenges of this Covid-19 outbreak,” Javier said.

“The involved healthcare workers have been duly identified, evaluated, and will be quarantined, if the risk of exposure warrants it,” Javier said.

Pimentel, however, denied allegations that he loitered around the MMC and entered the delivery room. He was at the MMC on Tuesday to accompany his wife, Kathryna, when he got a call from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), which confirmed that he contracted Covid-19.

His wife was scheduled to undergo a caesarian operation on Wednesday, but it was canceled.

“Yes [I accompanied her to the hospital] as she was [scheduled] to give birth this morning.

I received the call from RITM when I was already in the hospital last night hence I left immediately,” Pimentel said.

The senator also clarified that Health Secretary Francisco Duque 3rd “had nothing to do with our getting a room at the hospital.”

He said he had fever, cough and slight sore throat.

Pimentel’s wife defended her husband from bashers amid reports in social media that he
“lied” about his condition when he talked to the doctors.

“Sen. Koko never entered the delivery room of Makati Med. He went with me sa Makati Med yesterday to be admitted not knowing he was Covid positive yet. Then RITM called him around 9 p.m. that he was positive. But he was just in the room. As soon as he found out he was positive he left me and told my OB (obstetrician) about his situation,” Kathryna said.

The senator has asked for prayers, especially for his wife, “who is about to give birth in the next few days to our first baby girl, and with whom I cannot be at this very important point in our lives as parents.”

He expressed his profound gratitude to frontline medical workers who put their lives at risk on a daily basis to bring a halt to this pandemic. “They are the true heroes in this fight.”
Sports

No comments

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)