Kidney injury linked to BFP hazing
Investigators will try to determine how 8 BFP recruits injured their kidneys
TACLOBAN CITY — Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. has ordered an investigation of the alleged hazing of Bureau of Fire Protection-Region 8 (BFP) trainees of whom eight were hospitalized for kidney injury.
“The NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) must check into the medical records of the hospitalized trainees, their injuries, and the circumstances leading to this incident,” Abalos said on Friday when he and NBI investigators from the head office visited Jan Allen Ferreras, one of the two BFP trainees undergoing dialysis.
“This is not good. I would like to know what really happened here and we have to immediately look into this,” he said. “These trainees are like our children and we would like to get into the bottom of this. We will get experts to investigate this.”
The NBI is now tracing the whereabouts of the six discharged dialysis patients to get their testimonies also, according to Abalos.
The DILG head also said he will source money, initially from his own private foundation, to be able to give at least P50,000 to every trainee who were hospitalized for kidney-related illness.
Eight of 110 BFP trainees were rushed to hospitals last 5 July, four days after their training started.
FCInsp Jean Tolosa, Chief of Health and Services Section of BFP, said the trainees were diagnosed to have acute kidney injury from rhabdomyolysis, which she said happens when a person is suddenly subjected to an extraneous physical exercise without preparation.
The hospitalization of trainees led to speculations here that the trainees could have been subjected to hazing.
Ferreras, who was diagnosed with acute kidney failure and liver damage due to strenuous physical activity or rhabdomyolysis, was discharged from the hospital last 7 July but continues to undergo regular dialysis to normalize his creatinine level.
Ferreras’s sister Joebelle turned to social media to seek help from the public for the hospitalization of his brother.
Up to the time that he was discharged from the hospital, the patient racked up hospital bills amounting to P114,000 which the family settled through the help of friends and relatives.
“Recently, his creatinine level, instead of going down, it went up to 1400 plus which really hurt all of us. His nephrologist suggested a hemo perfusion which costs 45K per session (he needed 3 sessions) to finally get his creatinine levels back to normal,” Joebelle wrote in her social media post.
FCSupt Rodolfo Denaga, Regional Director of BFP in Eastern Visayas, denied allegations of maltreatment during the training as there was no hematoma found in the trainees’ bodies.
He said four of the trainee’s initially complained of muscle pain and were found to have discoloration of urine during a laboratory test prompting the doctors to recommend that they be admitted to the hospital.
Denaga said he is supporting the investigation and is ready to be relieved anytime if that will be the decision of higher authorities.