PAGADIAN CITY — Crammed with patients infected with the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center (ZSMC) has temporarily stopped admission of new cases starting Friday.
Dr. Anatalio Cagampang Jr., ZSMC chief, said they are thankful that private hospitals have agreed to take in the slack. He said that as of Friday, ZSMC caters to 137 COVID-19 cases while its dedicated facilities were only designed to accommodate only 97.
ZSMC, the province’s main COVID-19 referral facility, has 47 hospital-based accommodation and 50 in temporary treatment and monitoring facilities built near it.
As of Friday, the province had 558 active cases of which 51 percent are from Pagadian City; 49 new cases were added to the list while 44 have recovered and discharged from admission.
In Iligan City, Dr. Leonell Quitos, the lone infectious disease specialist in the area, said the COVID-19 wards in the local government-run Gregorio T. Lluch Memorial Hospital (GTLMH) has been full that only recovery and deaths will make space for new cases to be admitted.
Three private hospitals that take in COVID-19 patients could also no longer take in new cases as they are understaffed, Quitos added. More than half of the patients, according to Quitos, require oxygen supplementation.
As of May 14, the city had 199 active cases. Reports from Leah D. Agonoy and Divina M. Suson, Inquirer Mindanao