DOH to go on with pretrial probe into surgery scandal
The Department of Health has scheduled a pre-trial investigation into the so-called surgery scandal at
“We have not received any order from the Ombudsman about our plans for this hearing that’s why we are scheduling it (today),” DOH hearing committee chair Dr. Angelita Salarda told The Freeman yesterday.
Salarda said the people expected in the hearing are VSMMC chief Dr. Gerardo Aquino as the complainant, the respondents in the case, and their legal counsels.
The DOH hearing committee consists of Salarda herself, Dr. Elaine Teleron, from the Center for Health and Development, and Engr. Miguel Gerson from the VSMMC maintenance department.
Salarda said the agenda in the pre-hearing conference are the stipulation of facts, marking of evidences including the YouTube video footage, presenting of witnesses, setting the number of witnesses, and deciding on the formal hearing which would be forwarded to the Center for Health Development.
Salarda also cleared that the bodies concerned for the investigation today only involve VSMMC parties and not from the side of the victim because the complaint came from the hospital’s chief.
The preventive suspension for the three respondents of VSMMC, Salarda said, is based on violations such as dishonesty, grave misconduct, and gross negligence of duty. Three others have no bases to be penalized with suspension.
The lawyer of the victim, on the other hand, said they have been hoping that the Department of Health’s investigation would result in a favorable outcome for them.
Lawyer Guiller Ceniza yesterday said they have not yet received any order from the Ombudsman about the formal investigation now being conducted by the DOH. — Annie Hazel D. Basada and Rizzi Ann Cerera, UP-Tacloban CommArts interns/RAE
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