NBI files malpractice raps vs GMA doctor

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) yesterday filed a medical malpractice charge with a Tagaytay City court against a “doctor” who administered stem cell therapy on former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Antonia Carandang-Park “misrepresented herself as a licensed physician on several occasions,” according to an investigation by the NBI.

These incidents include the issuing of an official statement on July 25, 2012 regarding Arroyo’s treatment.

Park stated that she diagnosed Arroyo, now a Pampanga representative, and that “stem cell therapy is contemplated and strong considered for the latter’s condition. She even signed the same as ‘Dra. Antonia Park, M.D.,” the NBI said.

A check with the Professional Regulation Commission, however, showed that Park is not a licensed physician in the Philippines.

The malpractice charge was filed by Dr. Eunice Salazar-Abad, a physician who worked for Park’s Green and Young Health and Wellness Center clinic in Tagaytay.

The NBI said Abad, who worked as an aesthetic physician for Park, resigned after noticing “some irregularities and the unorthodox method being applied by Park in treating the patients. She discovered, too, that Park is using her name and license number in dealing with patients.”

Park, for her part, stressed that she is “not a quack doctor and is not engaged in the practice of medicine in the Philippines.”

“She admitted that she did not take the licensure examination in medicine in the Philippines due to various preoccupations and that the wellness center she owns is not engaged in the practice of medicine,” the NBI said.

Park is also the subject of a complaint filed with the NBI by Bernard Tan, who blames her for his cancer-stricken daughter’s death after she underwent treatment at the wellness center.