Hospitals in provinces urged to now brace for surge of COVID-19 cases

MANILA, Philippines — Provinces should already consider preparing their hospitals even if the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in their respective areas have yet to surge, Iloilo 1st District Rep. Janette Garin said Friday.

Garin, a former health secretary who has been vocal about having hospitals or facilities dedicated to people infected with COVID-19,  proposed that the following hospitals should now get ready:

• Bicol Sanitarium
• West Visayas Sanitarium
• Culion Hospital Palawan
• Eversly Hospital Cebu
• Mindanao Central Sanitarium
• Sulu Sanitarium
• Cotabato Sanitarium
• Labuan Public Hospital Zamboanga
• Schistomiasis Hospital Leyte

“Ngayon naman, ang ating karagdagang panawagan ay bago pa man dumami ang COVID cases sa mga probinsya, maigi ng ihanda na natin ‘yung ating mga Sanitarium Hospitals na noon ay na-convert na sa General Hospitals,” Garin said in a statement.

(Now, our added call is for the preparation of our sanitarium hospitals which were previously converted into general hospitals before COVID cases increases in the province.)

Patients confined in the above-mentioned hospitals who are not infected with COVID-19 can be transferred to the regional hospitals o the Department of Health (DOH), Garin said.

“Sa pagtatalaga ng mga ospital na para lamang sa mga may COVID, patuloy nating magagampanan ang serbisyong pangkalusugan ng iba habang natututukan din ang COVID patients,” she added.

(By designating these hospitals exclusively for COVID, we will continue to provide public health service for others while still strictly monitoring COVID patients.)

DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III on Friday said he has approved the exclusive use of one area in the UP-PGH facility in Manila and the Jose M. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital in Caloocan City solely for people infected with COVID-19.

The decision came after several private hospitals appealed that the government “centralize all efforts and resources” and designate one to two hospitals for COVID-19 cases.

“The Philippine General Hospital and Jose Rodriguez Memorial (Tala) Hospital have exemplary doctors, nurses, and other healthcare workers,” Garin said.

“We are hopeful that their expertise and dedication, while now being dedicated to COVID-19 cases, can help Metro Manila cope with this pandemic,” she added.

COVID-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that first emerged in China’s city of Wuhan in Hubei province in late 2019.

The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses named the novel coronavirus as SARS-CoV-2.

The virus causes mild symptoms such as fever and cough for most people but can cause serious illness such as pneumonia for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems.

Coronavirus is a family of viruses, which surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are named for the spikes on their surfaces.

The World Health Organization has declared COVID-19 a pandemic since it has already infected more than 244,500 people and killed more than 10,000, mostly in China, Italy, and Iran.

KGA