WATCH: Amid limited resources, doctors in Pasig hospital ask for time, patience

MANILA, Philippines – Doctors from a private hospital in Pasig City have asked patience from patients who seek medical attention through their emergency rooms (ER), asking them to opt for other hospitals as they are currently swamped with COVID-19 patients.

According to a short video posted on social media on Monday by The Medical City, doctors are seeking some time to fine-tune their response to other medical concerns aside from COVID-19, which has forced the hospital’s resources on its limit.

“More than 10 years of me being with Medical City, even if I ask some of the nursing attendants […] this is the first time they’ve experienced something like this,” Dr. Sally Abellanes, the ER doctor featured in the video, attested.

“We are expanding and expanding our capacities, but until when?  Right now this is our limit at the ER.  It’s not just people, it’s the equipment, it’s the doctors, it’s the nurses, it’s everyone,” she noted.

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While the hospital has been accepting patients for possible COVID-19 infection, other patients who may not be nursing COVID-19 symptoms have been urged to rush to other hospitals, also to avoid the risk of contracting the disease.

As of the moment, Abellanes says that they still have medical equipment — like ventilators — that are used by the COVID-19 patients.  However, she admitted that the equipment’s availability may run out sometime.

The doctor assured though that the hospital’s ER operation would go back to normal once they have cleared some of the COVID-19 patients.

“We still have some time to recoup and fix our processes a bit more.  Give us that time to at least divert patients first while we recoup, and then we can serve you better,” she claimed.

On Tuesday, the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease was forced to extend the ECQ all over Luzon until April 30 due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

As of Wednesday, Department of Health officials said that there are now at 3,870 patients infected with COVID-19, 182 of which have already died while at least 96 have recovered.

Worldwide, over 1.4 million individuals have been infected, while 81,894 have died from the disease and 294,660 have recovered from it.