Napoles’ release from hospital deferred; OsMak says she’s fit to leave

Janet Lim-Napoles. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Janet Lim Napoles, the alleged brains behind the pork barrel scam, may now be discharged from the hospital, according to officials of Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) where she has been confined for the treatment of the cyst in her uterus since March 31.

In a report submitted to the Makati Regional Trial Court’s Branch 150, which is trying the serious illegal detention charge filed against Napoles and her brother, hospital officials told the court that Napoles was now fit to be discharged from the hospital.

“Mrs. Janet Lim Napoles, by clinical assessment, can now be discharged from Ospital ng Makati,” said the report, dated May 5.

The medical progress report, which Makati RTC Judge Elmo Alameda had set as a requirement when he issued the ruling granting Napoles’ request to be treated for her ailment, was prepared by Dr. Florentina Villanueva, head of the obstetrics and gynecology department of OsMak.

It was also signed by Perry Ishmael Peralta, director of OsMak.

The OsMak officials, however, noted in the report that the attending physicians, Dr. Elsie Pascua and Dr Efren Domingo of St Luke’s Medical Center in Bonifacio Global City, had requested that Napoles have weekly followup checkups with them in the next four weeks.

Napoles successfully underwent a surgery to have her uterus and ovaries removed last month after she was diagnosed with a condition called severe adenomyosis of the uterus with multiple adenomyomata.

But Napoles’ lawyer Fay Isaguirre Singson said in an interview that Napoles’ discharge from the hospital was deferred by her doctors Monday night.

“Based on what I saw on her medical chart, the doctors deferred her discharge pending a conference among her attending physicians,” Singson said.

Singson said among the reasons cited by her doctors why Napoles should remain at the hospital was her elevated blood sugar and blood pressure levels.

Napoles “has to undergo necessary checkup once a week in the next four weeks, and once in every two weeks for the succeeding months,” she said.

Singson said their camp plans to file a pleading in court if her condition would warrant her continued stay at the hospital.

Once Napoles is released from the hospital, she would be transferred to her detention room at the Fort Sto. Domingo where she had been detained since her surrender in September last year.

The serious illegal detention charge has kept her in detention while her brother Reynald Lim remains at large with a P5-million bounty on his head.

Napoles recently executed an affidavit to Justice Secretary Leila de Lima before her scheduled surgery but its full contents have yet to be disclosed.

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