The Philippine General Hospital advised the public against call for monetary donations for its patients.
In a notice to the public on March 30, the PGH clarified that the hospital did not initiate these donation drives.
“A call for monetary donations for PGH COVID-19 patients supposedly from the PGH Medical Foundation is currently circulating. PGH and the PGH MFI would like to inform the public that this message is not from us,” the hospital said.
“Current government funding and private support allows the PGH to provide free COVID-19 treatment to all our currently admitted charity patients,” it added.
The hospital further caution the public to be wary of false information circulated by unscrupulous individuals.
The last time PGH sought for the public’s help was for blood donations for their patients in the Visayas region in June 2020.
Around that time, provinces in Visayas are among the new COVID-19 hotpots outside of Metro Manila.
This is not the first time that the institution’s name was used for a fraudulent scheme.
Last week, some social media users shared encounters with sketchy individuals who offered them fake negative RT-PCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test results for a fee and claimed to have connections with PGH staff.
When these reports alerted the PGH, it warned the public against dealing with these people.
“We have received reports of falsified or fake negative results using the PGH SARS-CoV-2 Reverse Transcription PCR Report forms,” the hospital said in a March 22 post.
“We wish to inform everyone to avoid dealing with unscrupulous individuals and be wary of suspicious-looking RT-PCR reports,” it added.
READ: PGH warns public vs individuals offering fake COVID-19 test results
It also urged the public to immediately email them to verify the RT-PCR tests.
Health workers on social media also warned other Filipinos of the dangers of using false COVID-19 test results either for travel or work purposes.
These schemes came at a time when the country reports more than 9,000 new COVID-19 infections per day and some hospitals in places with high transmission rates are running out of COVID-19 beds.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health reported 9,296 new COVID-19 cases, which brought the total cases to 741,181.
There were also five additional deaths which summed up to 13,191. Only 103 recovered, which brings the total recoveries to 603,310.
The national government re-imposed the enhanced community quarantine this week over the National Capital Region, Bulacan, Laguna, Rizal and Cavite, which were collectively called NCR Plus, to help the country stop or retard the spikes of patients contracting COVID-19.
The stricter ECQ will last until April 4, unless extended.
