No more posh hospitals for sick inmates – de Lima

NO inmates from the national penitentiary can choose their own hospital if their health condition cannot be treated at the prison hospital.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima issued an order to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) stressing that sick inmates who cannot be treated at the prison hospital should be taken to the nearest government hospital.

“Such directive [is] primarily [aimed] to [stop] past incidents of abuse of outside hospitalization privileges,” de Lima said in a text message.

In May last year, drug convicts Ricardo Camata  alias Chacha of the Sigue Sigue Sputnik gang and Amin Buratong, as well as bank robbery gang leader-turned-singer Herbert Colangco were allowed to seek medical treatment outside the New Bilibid Prison (NBP).

Buratong who owned and operated the P900-million, 2,000-square meter “shabu tiangge” in Pasig City was brought to the Medical City due to liver ailment and coronary artery disease while Colangco was rushed to Asian Hospital in Alabang and Camata was brought to Metropolitan Hospital in Manila due to lung ailment.

However, a CCTV footage showed a “starlet” visiting Camata in his hospital room.

Recently, drug queen Yu yuk lai has been at the Metropolitan Hospital since December 2014 due to recurring headache and physical ailments.

BuCor officials said they have been insisting on taking back Yu but her doctors said she needed to  undergo more test.

“My standing order is for her immediate discharge from the hospital,” de Lima said.

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