SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan – An 85-year-old man positive of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has attempted to burn down the isolation facility here a few days after he escaped from the Region 1 Medical Center (R1MC) in Dagupan City.
The police said the patient burned a table and broke some window glasses while he was locked inside the Don Primitivo S. Perez Social Hall on Sunday.
In an interview on Tuesday, Senior Fire Officer 4 Rogelio Quizon Jr., acting municipal fire marshal, said the fire started after a mosquito coil (katol) burned the papers in the table.
The town’s Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) immediately responded and was able to put out the fire.
Quizon said they will file charges, which will depend on the result of the investigation, as soon as the patient finished his treatment and quarantine.
The patient is admitted at the Pangasinan Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City, where he is under strict monitoring.
He was admitted to the R1MC on August 30 after testing positive for Covid-19.
On August 31, the patient was seen roaming in the city hall complex after allegedly escaping the hospital.
Mayor Kenneth Perez has ordered that the patient be returned to R1MC, but the doctors refused him to be readmitted, prompting the local government unit to put him in the town’s isolation facility.
The patient begged to be allowed to go outside, but it was not granted since he is a Covid-19 positive causing him to threaten the nurses that he would burn down the facility.
Meanwhile, Perez is set to ask the Sangguniang Panlalawigan to investigate the incident, citing the hospital’s lax on security which made the escape of the patient possible. (PNA)
