Bullied and discriminated, Mariveles Hospital staff experienced these
Mariveles Hospital staff experienced bullying and discrimination from the residents after the death of one COVID-19 patient.
The Mariveles Mental Wellness and General Hospital was tapped to cater to COVID-19 patients in Batangas. There were 5 COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms from New Clark City in Tarlac on March 23, based on the report from ABS-CBN.
One patient was discharged after testing negative for COVID-19. After this, a resident of the barangay where the hospital is located started showing symptoms of coronavirus on March 22 before dying last week. Dr. Lou Evangelista said that the death of the COVID-19 patient was announced on March 26.
Because of this, the barangay officials barricaded the hospital from March 26, Thursday until early March 27, Friday. According to Evangelista, this incident brought negative effect to the Mariveles Hospital staff.
“Ang naging effect sa aming staff ay very negative. Nagkaroon po ng discrimination, bashing, bullying. In fact mayroong kami 3 security guards na pinalayas sa kanilang tinitirhan kasi nagtatrabaho sila dito sa Mariveles Mental,” the physician said.
With this, the security guards were temporarily given lodging in the hospital. “Ang tingin samin parang nakakahawa ka. Binabash na kami sa social media o binabantaan ho na wag ka nang lalabas. Ang ibang staff namin di na nakakapasok dahil binabalaan sila na wag ka nang lalabas. Ngayon po skeletal force kami,” Evangelista added.
Due to this stigma, the local officials coordinated with the hospital in order to put the staff at ease. Dr. Evangelista also said that the mayor and governor of the province intervened in order to alleviate the worries of the residents of Mariveles.
“Hopefully po di na naha-harrass ang mga tao namin sa mga checkpoint at kanilang mga bahay,” the doctor said, based on the report.
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