Police arrested two Chinese doctors operating another illegal clinic, which allegedly treating Chinese nationals with COVID-19 in Makati City, Tuesday.
The said medical facility is located on the fifth floor of a building and was discovered a week after authorities raided an unregistered “COVID-19 hospital” in Fontana Leisure Park in Clark, Pampanga.
Police Major Gideon Ines Jr., chief of Makati Police Station Investigation and Detective Management Section, reported Wednesday the suspects were identified as David Lai, 49, the head doctor, and Liao Songhua, 41, the assistant doctor of the clinic.
Authorities received information that a Chinese doctor is treating Chinese nationals who are suspected to be infected with COVID-19. This caused Felipe Albayda Jr. of Makati Health Department Incident Management Team Task Force COVID-19 to inspect the Goldstar Medical Clinic located on the 5th floor of a building along Sampaloc Street in San Antonio Village.
Albayda coordinated with Makati Police to conduct the operation that led to the arrest of the Chinese doctors.
Four Chinese patients were also found in the clinic who were referred to the Makati Health Department, said Ines.
Police seized rapid test kits, swab sticks, vials, syringes, and multiple boxes of Chinese medicine that are not registered with the Food and Drug Administration during the operation.
Ines said the Bureau of Immigration would investigate the immigration status of the two arrested Chinese doctors.
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Illegal COVID-19 clinic in Makati raided
Authorities brought the seized evidence and the suspect to Makati Police Station. The Chinese doctors will face criminal charges for violation of the Medical Act of 1969 and the Food and Drug Administration Act of 2009.
Meanwhile, the arrested Chinese nationals in the Fontana COVID-19 hospital were released on the same day of arrest.
Police caught Chinese nationals Hu Ling, who was allegedly the facility’s supervisor and Seung Hyun, the supposed pharmacist.
Simon Wu, Fontana’s assistant general manager, said the two suspects were “released on the same day of their arrest, with no charges or cases filed against them.”
Wu notified Clark Development Corp. (CDC) about the release of the Chinese nationals without any case filed against them.
Col. Amante Daro, CIDG chief in Central Luzon, said on Monday (May 25) the suspects were not charged yet because there has a delay in the issuance of a certification from the FDA that will state that medicines recovered from the raided villa and a warehouse were “untested by FDA and hence illegal.”