Pacquiao says he’s 100 percent fit, open for 2 fights in 2013

By JO ERLINDA G. NEBRES

MANILA – A doctor who speculated that Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao has early signs of Parkinson’s disease even without examining the lawmaker-boxer is under fire from his peers.
Some PMA members said that the doctor may have violated medical ethics for his statements.
This as Pacquiao declined to pursue planned charges against the doctor, adding that he wanted Dr. Rustico Jimenez to apologize to him and to the public for his speculative statements or allegations.
Pacquiao stressed that he is 100 percent fit and, in fact, is planning to fight twice in 2013.
Pacquiao earlier said that he would fight again this April in what is billed as his conditioning fight before a fifth bout with his Mexican nemesis, Juan Manuel Marquez, by September.
The April bout is planned to be held in Macau, Dubai or Singapore as Manila which Pacquiao earlier proposed has been ruled out as a host of his return bout after a devastating knockout defeat from Marquez last December 8 in Las Vegas.
The Pacquiao-Marquez V placed on top of boxing fights boxing aficionados want to happen this year, according to poll survey.
The Philippine Medical Association (PMA), the organization of doctors in the country, virtually rebuffed Dr. Jimenez for his speculative statements on Pacquiao, as it came out with a position paper on the issue.
In its statement, the PMA stressed that the PMA or any member must not issue any statement on the alleged medical condition of the boxer “unless he has been diagnosed and undergone examinations.”
 Whether or not Pacquiao has Parkinson’s disease, any medical case, especially of those involving public figures should not be disclosed to the public, according to the PMA.
The PMA held a press conference to make known to the public its position paper directing medical specialists to refrain from talking about controversial health issues when one is still unsure about the matter and with little verification.
“As a policy, we at PMA must not issue such statement on the alleged medical condition of Pacquiao unless he has been diagnosed and undergone examinations,” said Dr. Modesto Llamas, PMA president. Llamas read from a statement approved by PMA on the issue.
He explained that only the PMA president and spokesman had been authorized “to designate any medical specialist on any specific topic asked of.”
“Supposedly, if Pacquiao is Jimenez’s patient, the findings must be treated with confidentiality and that could only be announced if there is a patient’s approval,” Llamas said.
“ In this case, Pacquiao is not his patient, therefore Jimenez is not allowed to take up the matter of alleged Parkinsons disease,” he added.
It is a fundamental duty of any doctor to maintain confidentiality of any information concerning their patients, the PMA stressed.
It added that issuing a statement even without personally examining a person would lead to misunderstandings.
“Especially on the case of Congressman Manny Pacquiao, I will just keep quiet and not say anything else … I don’t want the public to misunderstand me,” said Dr. Llamas.
Dr. Nimfa Baria, chairperson of the PMA Commission on Ethics, Baria said that it was unethical for a doctor to give information or a statement to the public about the condition of a patient, especially if the patient’s illness might not have been established yet.
Baria said that the proper thing to do would be to wait for an explanation from Dr. Jimenez, a PMA member and president of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAP), before concluding whether or not he had violated the code of medical ethics.
Jimenez earlier this January told media that Pacquiao had been showing early signs of Parkinson’s disease after accepting a sixth-round knockout punch from Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez.
He also said that he had not personally seen Pacquiao yet and, at the same time, he admitted that he might have been wrong. 
Jimenez actually has apologized to Pacquiao through media for his speculative statements..
Jimenez had said that he had observed early signs of Parkinson’s disease when Pacquiao gives TV interviews, such as stuttering and hand-twitching.
Jimenez said he only gave his personal observation, adding that Pacquiao should subject himself to more tests.
“I’m not labeling Congressman Pacquiao as having Parkinson’s disease,” he told ABS-CBN News. “Observation ko lang ‘yun… Ang sinasabi ko, magpatest siyang mabuti.”
“Kung nasaktan siya because of my observation, e humihingi na ko ng apology sa kanya,” he added.
Dr. Santiago del Rosario, a member of the PMA ethics committee, said Pacquiao’s primary physician has the sole authority to make public statements on the boxer’s physical state.
“The channeling should be from the primary physician and nobody else can make any opinion or express any position as far as the health of any patient. That is not his patient,” said Del Rosario.