HONG KONG, 31 December 2004 — Hong Kong medical authorities have refused permission for deposed President Joseph Estrada’s surgeon to operate on him, a hospital spokesman and Estrada's aides said yesterday.
US-based surgeon Christopher Mow, who flew to Hong Kong without the registration required to operate on the former president, had his application rejected twice by the Hong Kong Medical Council before Estrada arrived in the territory, said a hospital official who wished to remain anonymous.
“His application was rejected twice in November and December,” the official said.
The Adventist Hospital where Estrada had been due to undergo knee surgery yesterday, said it was “disappointed” by the decision.
“This is the first time the hospital has been rejected,” said hospital spokesman Jeremy Low.
Philippine Consul General Susan Castrence, who came to the territory to arrange Estrada’s trip, said she was surprised to find out the surgeon’s application has been rejected.
“All the arrangements with the hospital have been made by the Estrada group. He was allowed to go with the knowledge that everything has been arranged. We were informed of the rejection only (the other day). So we were very surprised,” she said.
Castrence said she has appealed to the Hong Kong authorities and hoped they will reverse their decision.
“We are now in the process of helping him ... We are awaiting a reply. Hopefully they will reconsider their decision,” she said.
Estrada said in an an interview on GMA Network’s “24 Oras” newscast in the Philippines that he was considering replacing Mow with a Hong Kong-based surgeon to hasten the start of his surgery.
It was understood the Medical Council had told the hospital Mow did not meet the requirements for limited registration, which council member Choi Kin said would be given to foreign doctors who come to Hong Kong only for academic purposes or to demonstrate a new technique.
The hospital source said Estrada’s team was “working on” getting the license.
Estrada, who is being tried on major corruption charges at home, arrived in the former British colony on Monday for the surgery accompanied by his wife and several police escorts as well as his press secretary Didagen Dilangalen.
He expressed confidence Mow would get clearance soon, noting that a Philippine official was working with local authorities to secure permission for Mow to operate and that the doctor has been allowed to work in Hong Kong before.
“Everything is being done,” Dilangalen said.
But Dilangalen said that despite any surgical delays, Estrada would return to the Philippines by Jan. 15 — a deadline set by an anti-graft court Sandiganbayan that is trying him on corruption charges.
Estrada left office after massive street protests in 2001 and has been under virtual house arrest on corruption charges, which he has denied.
The Hong Kong trip, Estrada’s first journey outside the country since he was ousted, is being closely watched amid speculation he may flee the Philippines. Placed under house arrest in 2001 on charges of plundering the country of $80 million during his 30 months in office, the 67-year-old former leader faces life in jail or even the death penalty if convicted.
Estrada “said very clearly he does not have any intention of seeking an extension of his stay here in Hong Kong for hospitalization even if the operation is delayed,” Dilangalen said in an interview with ABS-CBN.
Estrada blamed the “professional jealousy” of Hong Kong doctors as a partial cause for the.
“Dr. Mow has been operating here since last year. Maybe there is a professional jealousy among doctors here. I also learned that the other hospitals are envious of the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital because many foreigners come here for treatment,” Estrada said in an interview with reporters in his hospital room.
“There is a professional jealousy among the doctors and I have become a victim of it,” he said.
The problem started after the Hong Kong Medical Council failed to grant Mow, an orthopedic surgeon from California, a limited medical registration, which is only granted to overseas trained doctors who come to Hong Kong for academic purposes or to demonstrate a new operation technique.
The 67-year-old former actor went though a battery of medical tests in the run-up to the operation.
The Sandiganbayan gave Estrada permission to leave for medical treatment despite opposition from prosecutors who charged he might flee. Estrada also posted a million-peso bond (417,800).
His son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and also facing corruption charges, was due to join him this week.
The South China Morning Post reported that Estrada had rented four private rooms, costing 2,800 Hong Kong dollars ($360) a day, for 10 people to stay in at the hospital, including him and his private doctor from Manila, Larry Jocson.
Estrada has also rented a 2,700 square-foot apartment at Park View, where rents are as high as $70,000 a month.
He stayed in the flat on Tuesday night, the Post said.
In his interview on GMA-7 television network, Estrada admitted that the apartment rental was expensive but said it was nonetheless a cheaper option for housing his entourage than staying in a hotel.
Over the past two days, he has undergone a series of medical tests including magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound, with cost from $4,000 to $30,000 each.
A military-backed popular uprising, spawned by a corruption scandal, ended Estrada’s term in January 2001 and replaced him with then-vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, after which he was indicted and detained. (Input from AFP, AP & Inquirer News Service)
