Team from NBI Manila to help identify “uploader”

Computer experts of the National Bureau of Investigation in Manila are expected in Cebu anytime next week to help their counterparts here to identify the person, who uploaded the controversial video taken during the extraction of a perfume can from a gay’s anus at the Don Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (DVSMMC).

NBI agent Jesus Manapat said they have decided to ask the help of the anti-fraud and computer crimes section, because they are the one who have the technical know how.

The officials of the DVSMMC have asked the NBI to investigate and identify the person who uploaded the controversial video footage on YouTube that prompted the concerned patient to file a complaint before the Visayas Ombudsman.

The doctors of the hospital have already tagged a student nurse of a local university on internship at the government-run hospital as the one who uploaded the video to the Internet.

Manapat did not give a time frame on how long that the NBI could finish its task, but said they will try their very best to complete the probe the soonest.

The graft investigators of the Visayas Ombudsman are also investigating into the case to find out of who are those medical personnel who violated the hospital procedures by allowing outsiders to get inside the operating room and to take footage without proper permission.

Department of Health regional director Susana Madarieta in a radio interview said the taking of footages during an operation that involves a very rare case could be authorized for medical purposes, but it will not be exposed to public view.

No Senate Probe

Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri sees no need for the senate to conduct its own investigation into the so-called ‘surgery scandal.’

Zubiri said that the Philippine Medical Association and the Department of Health are already investigating the incident, which makes it unnecessary for the senate to do its own.

He however pointed out that the PMA must do something to sanction the medical personnel involved in the incident because they have violated the code of ethics of their profession.

He said that the medical team must treat all their patients as human beings and not pass judgment on their morality.

Zubiri said that he will push for sanctions against the medical team when he will meet with the administrators of the DVSMMC as he is set to donate P15 million to the hospital for the construction of the children’s charity ward. — Rene U. Borromeo with Flor Z. Perolina/NLQ