Doctor defends decision to transfer Gigi Reyes to Heart Center

Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Doctors of the Taguig Pateros District Hospital told the Sandiganbayan on Tuesday that they transferred pork barrel scam suspect Jessica Lucila “Gigi” Reyes to a bigger hospital on Friday because they deemed it an emergency.

The hospital’s cardiologist Anthony Lontoc stood before the witness stand, testifying that he considered an emergency Reyes’ complaints of chest pains.

Lontoc said the Taguig Pateros hospital was not as equipped as the Philippine Heart Center to address Reyes’ chest pains.

This was why he authorized the transfer of Reyes to the tertiary hospital even without an authorization from the court, Lontoc said.

Reyes Wednesday night was ordered detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) female dormitory in Camp Bagong Diwa after she surrendered to the court for her plunder charges.

But shortly after Reyes was transferred from Sandiganbayan jail to Bicutan, she complained of suffering an anxiety fit, prompting the BJMP to rush her to the Taguig hospital Thursday.

She was again transferred to the Philippine Heart Center a day after on Friday, this time due to chest pains.

At the Philippine Heart Center, however, Reyes did not show any problems in the heart that could have caused her chest pains, Lontoc said.

“On the second day of her hospital admission, Reyes is already improving. We were already planning to discharge her (then),” Lontoc said.

Reyes was already brought back to Camp Bagong Diwa on a stretcher Monday night, BJMP officials told the court.

Lontoc said the best doctor to accommodate Reyes is a psychiatrist.

“It would be best if she is treated by a psychiatrist,” the cardiologist said.

Meanwhile, Taguig Pateros District Hospital medical director Manuel Chua Chiaco Jr. said he had wanted to wait for a court order first before allowing Reyes’ transfer to the Heart Center.

“Obviously there was failure to follow instructions (to wait for court order), but I allowed his (Lontoc) judgment call that this was an emergency situation,” Chiaco said from the witness stand.

Reyes is the co-accused of Senator Juan Ponce Enrile for plunder in the pork barrel scam.

The former Enrile aide was ordered detained in Camp Bagong Diwa. Meanwhile, Enrile was rushed to the Philippine National Police General Hospital due to his frail health shortly after he surrendered to the police.

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