GUINOBATAN, Albay –– In a statement contradicting that of the Department of Health (DOH) Bicol, the Bicol Medical Center (BMC) in Naga City denied that the patient positive of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was admitted in their hospital.
On Friday evening, DOH Bicol released a statement that PH763, a 48-year-old female positive of COVID-19, was admitted to the hospital.
At 9 a.m. Saturday, BMC denied the claim, saying that they only have seven patients under investigation (PUIs), and none of them matches the profile of PH763.
“At present, we are waiting for the official result of the Research Institute of Tropical Medicine (RITM) about PH763,” Dr. Francisco Sales III, the hospital’s acting medical center chief, said in a press release.
“However, we have seen mild PUIs that (match) the patient’s profile wherein swab was done and the patient was sent home on home quarantine as per DOH protocol,” he said.
The hospital further said that the patients sent home were asymptomatic and were being monitored as they comply with the instruction for self-quarantine.
Home quarantine
DOH Bicol chief Ernie Vera, in a live-streamed press conference Saturday afternoon, explained that PH763, who arrived from Manila on March 5, had a consultation at BMC on March 17.
Vera said the woman, like the other two COVID-19 positive patients in Bicol, had a mild case of the disease.
The other COVID-19 positive patients in Bicol were PH765, a 50-year-old man who arrived from Metro Manila (he arrived from Manila on March 13 and was admitted to the Bicol Regional Training and Teaching Hospital on March 16, and discharged on the 19th, also following home quarantine protocols) and PH766, a 52-year-old foreign national who is a temporary resident of Albay (he was also admitted at BRTTH on March 16 and was discharged a day after following DOH protocols).
“We have a policy that for mild cases of PUIs, they are sent home and told to strictly follow home quarantine,” Vera said during an online press conference.
He said that before they are sent home, they are told what to do during the period of their quarantine. They are being monitored by their respective Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams.
The Bicol health chief also said that it is up to the local government units whether or not to have facilities to house patients waiting for the results of COVID-19 tests administered to them.
DOH said PH763 had a cough and shortness of breathing on the day of her consultation at BMC.
PH765 had cough and fever that started showing on March 9, six days before he was admitted to BRTTH.
DOH did not give details on the symptoms of PH766.
LZB