MANILA – A joint operation by the National Bureau of Investigation and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and local police forces on Thursday, May 28, yielded the arrest of two suspects, believed to be Chinese nationals operating a makeshift pharmacy and hospital exclusively for Chinese patients. The raid was staged in a rented house near Korean Town district in Angeles City.
As the global data of transmission of Covid-19 pandemic takes an upward trend and the cure is far from being available in pharmacy shelves, some people literally take the situation into their own hands. The makeshift hospital in Angeles City may be just one of the many similar clinics in the country that are operated by foreign nationals without the sanction of government’s regulatory agencies.
In May 20, police operatives and health authorities raided also a makeshift pharmacy and hospital catering exclusively for Chinese nationals at the posh Fontana Leisure Park in the Clark Freeport. Confiscated during the raid were a plethora of medical equipment, medical supplies and stocks of medicine allegedly for the cure for Covid-19.
In both raids by government authorities, the subject hospitals were found to have no permits either from the local government unit or from the Department of Health. The medicines found in these hospitals have no registration from the FDA making them illegal for commercial use in the country.Mayor Carmelo “Pogi” Lazatin who conducted an inspection in the facility said that the operation of makeshift hospitals by Chinese nationals is undermining the effort of the government to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Ibinaliwala nila ang mga alituntunin at batas ng ating bansa,” (They have undermined the guidelines and laws of our country), Mayor Lazatin said.
