The Department of Health (DOH) identified on Friday three government hospitals as the main destination of patients with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) who could no longer be accommodated in other public or private hospitals.
The announcement was made on the day 11 major private hospitals in Metro Manila issued “an urgent appeal for a unified approach to the COVID-19 pandemic,’’ which they said had started to take a toll on their manpower and resources.
At a press briefing on Friday, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said “we have observed that our hospitals are becoming full. As announced by our Health Secretary (Francisco Duque III )… PGH (Philippine General Hospital) has already agreed to become our COVID-19 hospital. They are slowly transitioning so we can use them in the coming days, specifically for COVID-19 cases.”
“We agree with the private sector that we need to have a dedicated COVID-19 hospital. Not just one but [more] hospitals that can be situated in strategic areas in the country. This would help spread out cases and decongest hospitals so they could accept non-COVID cases,” she added.
Referral facilities
According to Vergeire, preparations are under way at PGH in Manila, the Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City, and Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (previously known as Tala Leprosarium) in Caloocan City for their designation as referral facilities for COVID-19 cases.But PGH spokesperson Jonas del Rosario clarified that the hospital will not become exclusive to coronavirus patients but will still accept patients with other ailments.
PGH has so far allocated some 200 beds for COVID-19 patients, Del Rosario added. As of Friday, the hospital has one coronavirus case and 17 patients under investigation (PUIs) for signs of COVID-19.
‘Collective call to action’
The DOH said the Lung Center has an extension with 40 beds where coronavirus patients may be confined.
Since it is also the referral hospital for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and lung cancer, “care must be taken not to expose these immuno-compromised patients,” the department stressed.
In a newspaper ad published on Friday, 11 private hospitals issued a “collective call to action … to centralize all efforts and resources into one or two COVID-19 hospitals, adequately equipped and invested upon by the government to receive, screen and treat PUIs and COVID-19 positive patients when the allowable number of the cases per hospital, private or public, is exceeded.”
For speed, efficiency
“Execution of the plan will allow for concentration of resources, speed [up] patient processing and efficiency in protocol execution, rendering better chances for infection containment,” the hospitals said in a joint statement, which also emphasized that they were not shying away from their responsibilities in patient care.
The statement was issued by the top executives of St. Luke’s Medical Center, The Medical City, Adventist Medical Center, Asian Hospital Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Fatima University Medical Center, Makati Medical Center, Manila Doctors Hospital, Medical Center Manila, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center.
As of press time, there were 230 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country, of which eight have recovered and 18 have died. As of Thursday, there were 506 PUIs admitted in various hospitals and nearly 6,300 under observation while in home quarantine.
‘Reason to be scared’
Of the 10 hospitals handling the most cases, only three are state-run: the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM), Santa Ana Hospital and the Lung Center.
The Medical City has the most number of cases (30), followed by RITM (27), St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City (17), St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City (16), and Santa Ana Hospital (15).
“The panic is escalating, mortality is increasing, our supplies of personal protective equipment (PPEs) are running short, our frontline staff are increasingly getting depleted as more of them are quarantined or physically and emotionally exhausted,” the hospitals’ statement further read.
“We have every reason to be scared; we are, indeed, very scared because we feel that we are on our own to face our countrymen in dire need of help,” it added.
The 11 hospitals that issued the collective appeal are handling at least 105 Covid-19 cases, according to the latest DOH data.
‘Don’t post on social media’
Meanwhile, Vergeire said that donations of personal protective equipment had begun to arrive but will have to be inventoried first by the DOH before distribution.
“This will be rationally allocated. We will try to respond to those who need them, even the local government hospitals,” she said.
In an appeal to hospitals, she said: “Our wish is for you to go directly to our agency for your needs. Don’t post it on social media because it adds to the fear of the people that we are running out of supplies. Call us and we’ll see how we would be able to respond to your needs.” —WITH A REPORT FROM JULIE M. AURELIO