Mayor Isko Moreno holds a meeting with Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna and Dr. Ted Martin about the nurse caught selling COVID vaccines. Photo by JERRY S. TAN
Nurse selling vaccines to face suspension, admin charges
WHEN it comes to irregularities, Manila has a one-strike policy and there are no holy cows.
Thus stressed Mayor Isko Moreno, as he directed Dr. Ted Martin, director of the Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, to suspend and institute administrative charges against the nurse who was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation for selling 300 Sinovac vaccines for P1 million.
In the same breadth, Moreno also announced that Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau (MTPB) chief Dennis Viaje had dismissed from the service a traffic enforcer who was found and verified to be involved in extortion.
“Congrats to MTPB Director Dennis Viaje. Tanggal na ang enforcer. It’s a big organization… it is not a perfect organization but we will never tolerate. Out. Because the interest of the public ang ating pangunahing layunin,” Moreno stressed.
The mayor also lamented that the two employees of the city will have to be removed, saying every basket of tomatoes has at least one that is rotten and that he wants this taken out at once, so as not to “infect” the remaining good ones and let the employees know that the city has no room for anyone engaging in anomalous activities.
Moreno said he had met with Dr. Martin for the swift action on nurse Alexis de Guzman, so that he can already be dismissed from the service, even as Moreno expressed fear that the vaccines being sold could even be fake.
He noted the number of digits comprising the lot number of the vaccines of Manila compared to the ones confiscated being less, as he also pointed out that the number on confiscated vaccine boxes easily faded when they got wet.
“Kung saan nakuha ang mga bakunang binebenta, di pa alam but one thing for sure, hindi atin ‘yung mga bakuna as per report of Dr. Ed Santos,” the mayor said. Santos, the assistant chief of the Manila Health Department, re-checked the vaccines and found nothing missing.
Moreno expressed disappointment over the incident involving a nurse in one of the city-run hospitals, stressing that in Manila, selling COVID vaccines in any way is prohibited under Manila City Ordinance 8740.
The violation carries a P5,000 fine and imprisonment of up to six months which may be the reason why the sale took place outside of Manila.
He called on the public, specially the netizens, to immediately inform the city government should they have any information on anyone selling COVID vaccines in the city, vowing immediate action after due verification.
