Arroyo can get special permits for foreign doctors to treat her in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) said on Wednesday former President Macapagal-Arroyo could apply for a special permit from the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) to allow foreign practitioners to treat her without having to leave the country.

PMA governor, Dr. Leo Olarte said this would be another option that Arroyo, who has been reportedly suffering from a rare bone disease, could consider following the government’s disapproval of her plan to seek medical treatment abroad, pending the preliminary investigation of her on complaints of plunder and election cheating.

Under the law, foreign medical practitioners cannot practice in the Philippines without a special permit from the PRC, which is mainly responsible for the implementation of regulatory policies on the regulation and licensing of various professions and occupations in the country.

“[They] can file a petition before the PRC and if the Board of Medicine is convinced, it would issue her doctor a special permit,” said Olarte, adding that the issuance of special permits was not rare.

But to get a special permit, a lawyer would have to prove that a foreign physician was indeed a specialist of a certain ailment and that such kind of physician was really absent in the Philippines, explained Olarte.

Earlier, the PMA, an umbrella organization of practicing doctors nationwide, said the country had many metabolic bone experts who could competently treat any patient, including Arroyo.

These experts belonged to the Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, a specialty component of the PMA, which is also the proper body to declare, whether or not, there exists presently a metabolic expert physician in the country.

Olarte added that a bone scan, readily available in premier hospitals in the country, could be an alternative to bone biopsy.

Earlier, the Arroyo camp said the former president’s treatment depended ultimately on a bone biopsy, which the family wanted to avail of abroad. But the PMA stated that even a bone biopsy could be done in the country.

Arroyo, 66, is suffering from what doctors describe as cervical spondylosis, a degenerative condition of the cartilage and bones. She underwent three surgeries between July and August to realign her spine.  Later, she was also diagnosed to be suffering from hypoparatyhroidism, a mineral disorder which prevents calcium from reaching her bones.