Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has conveyed his “abject apologies” to the United Kingdom after a British national died inside an ambulance while waiting to be admitted to a hospital in Cebu for eight hours.
Locsin made the apology on Twitter even as he later defended the hospital – Ching Hua – as “one of the best in the country,” saying it was “filled to the rafters” with COVID-19 patients at the time when the British national was brought by the ambulance for admission.
“He (British national) never complained; got cardiac arrest; doctors didn’t help. He died. Shame. Abject apologies to UK,” Locsin wrote on Twitter last Thursday night.
The DFA chief even criticized the Cebu City government for what he called “grossly undercounted” individuals infected with COVID-19.
“Why our president put the city in extreme quarantine. And it’s not working. Little or no cooperation,” Locsin said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, the government of the United Kingdom is now coordinating with authorities in Cebu regarding the case of the British national.
In a tweet yesterday, UK Ambassador to the Philippines Daniel Pruce thanked Locsin for posting the message concerning the death of the British national.
“Thank you for this message Mr. Secretary. My team are in close touch with the local authorities and are offering advice and support to the family,” Pruce said in reply to Locsin’s earlier tweet.
President Duterte last Monday placed Cebu City back under enhanced community quarantine status until the end of June 2020 due to the continued spike in the number of COVID-19 cases.
Cebu City has nearly 4,200 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 58 fatalities, and 2,001 recoveries as of June 18. (Roy Mabasa)
