CamSur mental health hospital on lockdown after worker, patients get COVID-19

LEGAZPI CITY — The Bicol Medical Center’s (BMC) Department of Psychiatry, also known as the Don Susano Rodriguez Memorial Mental Hospital, in Barangay (village) Cadlan in Pili, Camarines Sur province, was placed on lockdown Sunday after patients and a healthcare worker tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Mylce Mella, spokesperson for the BMC, in a press statement, said the lockdown took effect Sunday and will remain until further notice as the hospital premises will be disinfected as contact tracing is now being done.

Mella said the hospital’s staff and patients are now isolated and the necessary infection and control measures were carried out by the hospital’s Epidemiology Surveillance Unit and the Emerging and Re-Emerging Infectious Diseases unit.

Due to the lockdown, the hospital’s outpatient services are also temporarily suspended.

The hospital management has advised patients or families that need psychiatric help to coordinate with their respective Municipal Health Officer or call the BMC Department of Psychiatry’s Hotline +639610376820.

As of May 21, Camarines Sur has 3,036 total cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic started in March 2020. The province also has 2,186 total recoveries and 108 deaths.

/MUF