MANILA, Philippines?A Quezon City court has granted the appeal of Andal Ampatuan Sr. to be examined at a tertiary hospital for a skin disease he supposedly contracted while in detention.

In a two-page order, Judge Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Regional Trial Court Branch 221 allowed the elder Ampatuan?s medical examination at the V. Luna Medical Center for shingles, a skin disease.

?The jail warden of the Quezon City Jail Annex?Camp Bagong Diwa is directed to transfer without delay, Datu Andal Ampatuan Sr, to the Armed Forces Medical Center (V. Luna Medical Center) in Quezon City for the treatment of his disease and further evaluation of his medical condition,? Reyes said Monday.

The order, dated July 2, also directed Ampatuan?s attending doctor to submit to the court a copy of his medical evaluation and the treatment for Ampatuan?a ailment, if any.

The elder Ampatuan had asked the court for permission to be examined at a tertiary hospital upon the recommendation of Philippine General Hospital doctors.

Andal Sr., one of 197 accused in the November 23, 2009 Ampatuan massacre of 57 people, including 32 journalists, claimed he developed a skin disease with pus while in detention.

A check-up by Superintendent Claro Mundin, medical officer of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, revealed that Ampatuan was suffering from shingles or Herpes zoster, a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters.

Mundin also recommended Ampatuan?s admission to a secure tertiary hospital like the V. Luna Medical Center for further evaluation of his skin disease.