Nurse sacked for sneaking contrabands into CPDRC
The Provincial Health Office terminated yesterday the second of two nurses caught trying to smuggle contrabands into the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) last week.
PHO head Dr. Rene Catan confirmed that the second nurse was sacked for attempting to help inmates through sneaking in prohibited items. The first nurse was fired in the first week of this month.
Catan said that he no longer had the opportunity to talk with the two nurses because they were immediately dismissed from duty. He said that it was CPDRC acting warden Roberto Legaspi who recommended the termination of the nurses.
Confiscated from the possession of the nurse were 145 assorted lighters, 10 pieces of shoe glue, 40 pieces of brand new sim cards, 17 pieces of alkaline batteries, six pieces assorted headsets, three pieces assorted colored pouch and one piece of black paper bag. All of these are now in the custody of the Philippine National Police for further investigation.
It was the police personnel assigned at the jail facility’s inspection area near the entrance who caught the nurse.
Cebu Governor Hilario Davide III said that the two are all job order (JO) employees. Under their protocol and stated in the contract, the services of JOs can be terminated anytime by the Cebu provincial government.
“We can fire them at will,” he said when asked about the JOs.
He explained that JOs, unlike Capitol employees who hold casual and regular status, may be terminated anytime and such move does not require due process.
In the previous year, around 20 Capitol employees serving at the jail facility were suspended for multiple offenses. Some those workers were under investigation for possibly aiding the inmates in bringing in contraband items.
The governor also expressed disappointment saying that he thought it was only some of either the jail guards or administrative personnel who aided the inmates in their underground transactions.
Meanwhile, Legaspi and Catan both said that this is not the first time that a nurse was involved in the illegal activity. Catan said that over-familiarity with the people in the jail facility can also be a factor why there are nurses who involved themselves in the illegal transaction.
Another is a ‘phenomenon’ wherein a nurse’s compassion on the inmates may have exceeded rationality which leads to the violation of rules and regulations. Leniency on guarding those whom one is familiar with can also be a factor, he said.
At present, only four out of the original six CPDRC nurses rotate and attend the jail facility while all three physicians are still present. The PHO is still searching for new nurses who can substitute the current nurses assigned to the jail facility.
Catan said that a nurse can only be assigned at the CPDRC for three to six months. This mechanism was institutionalized in order to prevent the medical staff from forming unnecessary healthcare provider to a patient relationship which may undermine the rules and regulations of the jail.