Arroyo may be discharged Tuesday, says VMMC official

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines–Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo might be discharged from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center Tuesday if her blood tests turn out to be normal, VMMC director Dr. Nona Legaspi said.

“If (her) serum potassium (level) is normal, then she can be medically discharged,” Legaspi said in a press conference Monday on Arroyo’s health. Potassium, the doctor added, is vital to “the body’s general wellness and the heart.”

Arroyo was confined at the government hospital since Thursday morning for “generalized body weakness, persistent pain over the nuchal (neck) area and left shoulder, with numbness of both hands and frequent episodes of choking.”

Police officers served the former president an arrest warrant from the Sandiganbayan Thursday for plunder charges, along with other former officials of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office for alleged misuse of PCSO funds.

Arroyo was previously under hospital arrest at the VMMC from December 2011 to July 25 this year, on charges of electoral sabotage filed before a Pasay City court. After posting bail, she was on provisional liberty until her rearrest Thursday.

Over the weekend, the embattled lawmaker was placed on intravenous medication that addressed her dehydration.

If blood tests early Tuesday confirm that her serum potassium levels have normalized, Arroyo “can be discharged with orders to continue her physical therapy three times a week,” Legaspi said in the medical bulletin.

The doctor said they did not conduct an electromyogram (EMG) test on the former President to determine the cause of numbness on her hands that she had complained of, because Arroyo was hooked to an IV drip.

“She can go back here for the EMG as an outpatient,” Legaspi said, adding that the neck pain can similarly be addressed with thrice a week therapy.