OsMak: promissory note, court order enough for Napoles to be discharged

Janet Lim-Napoles. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Alleged pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim-Napoles does not need to pay her hospital bills to be discharged from hospital confinement.

Aside from a court order, a promissory note to negotiate the unsettled hospital bills of Napoles would suffice to bring her back to jail, the Ospital ng Makati (OsMak) said on Friday.

“While Mrs. Napoles opted not to have her release processed, she can still be pulled out anytime (if needed or required) by simply executing a promissory note,” Perry Peralta, OsMak Medical Director, said in a statement addressed to Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Director General Alan Purisima.

This was after an anonymous PNP official claimed in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report on Thursday that the OsMak officials “apparently wanted to escape blame for Napoles’ continued stay at the public hospital.”

Peralta said that Napoles’ outstanding hospital bill stood at P105,000 as of Thursday.

“We are not trying to set you up and make it appear that you were not doing your job to immediately transport Mrs. Napoles back to her detention facility as claimed by the police official in the article,” Peralta said.

The senior police official also said the OsMak tried to pass off an “antedated” release order for Napoles.

But the OsMak refuted the claims, reiterating that Napoles could “leave the hospital anytime” from the time it released a discharge order on May 6.

“We would like to believe that this is simply a miscommunication among our people and we hope that this letter would shed light on the matter,”he added.

Napoles underwent hysterectomy at the hospital to remove her uterus and two ovaries on April 22 after being diagnosed with a condition called severe adenomyosis of the uterus with mult‎iple adenomyomata.

Peralta said the hospital has already relayed the release order to the PNP detail assigned to Napoles.

“A discharge order was issued May 6, 2014. This order was written on the patient’s chart and the document presented to the police team securing Napoles last May 12 was not a release order or a discharge clearance. Once a discharge order is issued, the patient must have his/her release processed through the hospital’s finance unit, the entity that issues a discharge clearance,” he said.

But a day before the discharge order came out, Napoles filed a motion before the Makati Regional Trial Court (RTC) to extend her stay at the hospital until she completes her post-operation check-ups.

“Apparently, Mrs. Napoles did not comply with the release procedure on the basis of a motion she filed in court requesting for an extension of her hospital stay. In effect, no release order has been issued,” the doctor stressed.

“The matter of her continued stay at OsMak is up to the courts, and not the hospital management,” he said.

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