Garin warns vs. naming hospitals where persons monitored for nCoV may be brought

loilo Representative Janette Garin on Wednesday warned against mentioning the name of hospitals where persons under observation for possible novel coronavirus infection are brought.

During the Question Hour at the House of Representatives, Garin, herself a former Health secretary, said that naming the hospitals could add to the spreading of fake news.

She said that during a Department of Health press conference, San Lazaro Hospital was mentioned.

"So sumunod 'yung ibang generators of fake news, and they kept on mentioning hospitals to the detriment of public health," Garin said.

"By protocol, [for] any patient that is managed, the hospital is never mentioned because it does more harm than good," she added.

Some hospitals in the Philippines have already had to deny that they have patients with the virus, which has infected about 6,000 people worldwide so far, most of them in China.

Garin asked Health Secretary Francisco Duque III if it is possible not to identify any hospital in the next press conferences, to which the latter concurred.

Currently, there are no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in the Philippines, although the DOH said there are 23 persons under investigation for the illness as of Wednesday.

Four others have been discharged but will still be monitored by health authorities, it added. — BM, GMA News