Doctors want to keep Arroyo in hospital

Former president and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo

Doctors at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) on Wednesday  deferred the discharge from the hospital of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, citing the need for further tests.

VMMC director Dr. Nona Legaspi, in a text message, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that Arroyo’s potassium level remained low.

Results of the blood tests conducted on Tuesday on Arroyo showed her “serum potassium” is still low. “We have to investigate further and still do some tests (on Arroyo),” Legaspi said.

According to the VMMC director, Arroyo is not yet ready to be discharged from the medical facility. “We have to find out why the potassium remains low,” she added.

Potassium is a vital mineral for the normal functions of the heart and that of the digestive as well as the muscular systems. It is crucial to the proper function of the human body’s cells, organs, and tissues.

Arroyo has been confined at the VMMC since Thursday last week after she complained of feeling weak. Jeanette I. Andrade