IT WAS not a janitor but an “institutional worker” who inserted a catheter in a patient of the Bantayan District Hospital, a Capitol official said yesterday.
Institutional workers are hospital aides or all-around workers who are trained to do minor medical work, said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Cristina Giango.
Both Giango and the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center’s (VSMMC) director made inquiries on the matter.
The patient, Astero Rivera 68, was suffering from benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) or hyperplasia, characterized by an enlarged prostrate, when brought to the Bantayan facility, Giango said.
Quoting Dr. James Nicolas Najaro’s report, Dr. Giango said the patient was sick and feverish for three days when he could not expel his urine.
The institutional worker, Arturo Abello, supervised by medical personnel, inserted a catheter.
But still the patient could not relieve himself, so they called up Najaro and the doctor administered anti-infection drugs and intravenous fluids, and referred the patient to the VSMMC, a tertiary hospital operated in Cebu City by the Department of Health.
VSMMC’s diagnosis was also BPH, Dr. said Giango. He was reportedly treated as an outpatient, given medicines and then released.
The doctor’s report made it clear that the patient was already ill and in pain when brought to the district hospital, she said.
“He (Abello) is an all-around worker and we are just trying to check if protocols or measures were breached,” said Giango.
The initial report said that janitor inserted a catheter, which caused a patient to bleed. It then identified Dr. Najaro as the one who confirmed that Abello inserted the catheter.
Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, for her part, said Abello is not a janitor and urged reporters to verify the facts before writing any story.
Dr. Giango said that Abello underwent training, like the “hilot” who assists midwives, to perform minor medical tasks.
Rivera already had an infection and was in pain before he reached the hospital, she said.
Both Dr. Giango and Capitol spokesman Atty. Rory Jon Sepulveda declined to let reporters photocopy Dr. Najaro’s report, saying the matter is still under investigation.
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 05, 2011.
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