PNP doctor dies after inhaling disinfectant in quarantine facility

June 7, 2020

The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Sunday vowed to further implement stricter biosafety measures and protocols after the death of a police frontliner due to alleged toxic inhalation.

In a Facebook post, PNP Directorate for Police Community Relations identified the doctor as Police Captain Casey Gutierrez, who served as one of the medical doctors at the Ultra Quarantine Facility in Pasig City.

“The PNP Health Service will be stricter on the biosafety measures and protocols in handling toxic material to avoid accidents,” Police Brigadier General Bernard Banac, PNP spokesperson, said.

In a radio interview, Banac said a police doctor allegedly died after he accidentally inhaled a chemical from the quarantine facility where he was assigned.

He said an investigation into the incident has been ongoing.

“We mourn with the doctor’s family… the Health Service is now investigating this to prevent it from happening again,” Banac said.

According to a report, Gutierrez, 31, was undergoing disinfection when he suddenly experienced difficulty in breathing last May 24.

He was brought to the PNP General Hospital at Camp Crame for initial treatment and was later transferred to the Lung Center of the Philippines.

The police doctor died last May 30 from massive pulmonary embolism due to toxic inhalation.

The live-in partner of Gutierrez on her Facebook account shared that other police personnel assigned in the same quarantine facility got sick due the same reason last June 1.

“The incident again happened to other medical staff of the same facility, a day after he died! That adds more salt to the injury! I thought what happened to Casey will be an eye opener, you did not learn,” she said.

“He is not a COVID patient. He died out of negligence and incompetence,” she added.

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is also conducting an investigation over the incident. Ella Dionisio/DMS