Duterte tells NBI to arrest owners of WellMed due to alleged 'ghost dialysis'

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to arrest the owners of WellMed Dialysis Center, the healthcare provider involved in the alleged "ghost dialysis" scam.

"I'll tell the NBI, 'Arrest the idiot, bring him to Malacañang.' And I'll ask him, 'Tell me the truth or I'll throw you to the river.' But he will be extricated, we'll not allow him to be drowned," Duterte said in an interview over Pastor Apollo Quiboloy's television show on Sonshine Media Network.

This as the President seemed to be getting impatient with PhilHealth taking time to investigate the matter.

"'Yung administrative na sinasabi nila, ni (PhilHealth acting chief) Roy [Ferrer] kanina na they are initiating investigation and they have 20 days. That's s*** to me," he said.

With this, the chief executive has tasked the NBI to take over the inquiry and make the necessary arrests.

"Arrest them and investigate them right away, no ifs and buts," Duterte said.

"The NBI should take over by tomorrow and start to summon everybody and the owners of that wellness thing there, where these fraudulent claims were discovered, arrest them. That is my order. Arrest them," he stressed.

WellMed has denied its two former employees' allegation that it has been claiming deceased patients' benefits. 

The former employees, Edwin Roberto and Liezel Santos, sought legal assistance from former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque about a year after they notified PhilHealth.

WellMed, however, said that Roberto and Santos—its former assistant manager and  former PhilHealth officer and cashier, respectively—"connived with each other" to commit the fraudulent scheme themselves, then later attributed the illegal act to the center.

PhilHealth earlier confirmed that it monitored fraudulent acts involving WellMed. Their findings showed that 28 medical cases that have been filed involved dead patients, while 12 others are under investigation.

Duterte said he will make an announcement and maybe reshuffle the PhilHealth management due to the said issue. —KG, GMA News