Presidential spokesman Harry Roque described as un-Christian questions on how he was quickly accommodated by a government hospital while ordinary COVID-19 patients have yet to be admitted.
However, Roque, who said he had to be admitted after his oxygen level dropped to 90, did not explain how he was able to get the room.
“With all due respect, I think that’s an un-Christian question,” he said during an online press briefing Monday.
“Under the Duterte administration, anyone who needs medical attention will be given assistance,” he added.
The Palace official said he will remain in the hospital after completing his medications, including taking Remdesivir.
On April 10, Roque said he was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 more than three weeks since he first contracted the diseas
The Department of Health, for its part, refused to comment on prioritization of Roque, who remains confined at the Philippine General Hospital.
“We have our protocols and there is also triaging system in our hospitals based on the level of severity of pati ents when they come in. For this, please forgive me I’m not going to comment on this but as I’ve said, we have protocols in our system,” DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in an ANC Headstart interview.
Intensive-care unit beds at 14 out of 21 hospitals in Metro Manila was on a “critical” level or “almost 100 percent,” DOH said on April 6.