ANGELES CITY — The Office of the City Prosecutor here issued subpoenas to executives of Dr. Amando L. Garcia Medical Center Inc., (DALGMCI), complainant, and witness to address the complaint filed for alleged fraudulent charges on May 27, 2022.
Suspects for the case are identified as DALGMCI Managing Director Dr. Amando Garcia Jr. and Billing Officer Gemma Dimarucut-Magtoto.
The complaint against the two was filed by Leah De Fiesta of Xevera Bacolor. De Fiesta’s uncle, Eduardo De Fiesta, was hospitalized at the Garcia Hospital and apparently incurred huge hospital bill.
Upon initial probing of the City Prosecutor through the complainant’s affidavit, even amidst the pandemic, the statement of account shows that an entry of 31 units of “Infusion Pump” was used by the complainant’s bereaved uncle who was admitted to the hospital for treatment.
However, said entry was purportedly entered manually as a ‘padded item’ on July 27, 2021. While only a total of 13 units of Infusion Pump were used by the patient, the statement of account reflected 31 units. All unused charges amounted to a total of P27,000.
This was confirmed by the witness who is an employee of the respondent and was also commanded to encode ghost items.
Allegedly, Dimarucut-Magtoto has been tampering with hospital bills, personally instructing personnel to add ghost or padded items that were unnecessary and unused by patients. Reported ‘predatory pricing’ ensued during the height of the pandemic.
Witness additionally claimed that Dimarucut-Magtoto confessed that she acted in accordance with the wish of the hospital’s Managing Director, Dr. Garcia.
“Makipagobra ku mu, ala na ku man akarapat, utus na ku mung Sir Dey” (I am only a worker, I do not have the right to refuse, this is an order from ‘Sir Dey’ [Dr. Garcia]), Dimarucut-Magtoto allegedly said as recalled by the witness.
Other colleagues of the witness also confessed to having received the same order to put fraudulent charges in the accounts of other patients admitted at DALGMCI.
The suspects are in question for violating the Anti Hospital Deposit Law or Republic Act 10932, Anti-Hospital Arrest or Republic Act 9439, and/or Articles 315, 316, and 318 of the Revised Penal Code.
DALGMCI has yet to release a statement. This is a developing story.