With no hospital admitting him, Bacolod City councilor’s staff member dies from cardiac arrest

BACOLOD CITY –– A technical staff member of a councilor here died of cardiac arrest in his house on Sunday as hospitals in Bacolod City remained overwhelmed by the rising number of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.

Jesryl Bancaya, 33, who was in-charge of orienting returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), had a fever for nine days, said Councilor Ayasha Joy Villaflor.

The patient had a seizure and was brought to several hospitals in Bacolod, but they could not accommodate him since these were overwhelmed with patients.

Bancaya was then brought to a hospital in Cadiz City, but was again turned down.

Villaflor said Bancaya’s face began to turn bluish when he was brought to their house and he later died.

Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran said Bancaya may have been positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Familiaran admitted that the hospitals were overwhelmed and that the health system in Bacolod is about to collapse.

Negros Occidental and Bacolod City’s COVID-19 positive cases hit 1,682 on Sunday and the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital announced that it could no longer accept patients with the virus.

LZB