101 Ilocos Norte health workers get COVID as pandemic hits them hard

Health workers in Mariano Marcos Hospital in Batac City bring oxygen tanks to COVID patients in need of breathing support. PHOTO FROM MMMH&MC

LAOAG CITY — At least 15 more health workers in Ilocos Norte’s biggest public hospital were infected with SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19, raising the number of sick health workers in the hospital to 101, according to health officials on Thursday (Aug. 5).

The health workers of Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC) had been treating at least 157 COVID-19 patients, said Dr. Josephine Ruedas, provincial health officer. They had been put on a “lock in-duty” arrangement, she said.

Ruedas said the step was taken to reduce the risk of community transmission of the virus.

MMMH&MC has at least 164 beds for COVID patients and service those who have moderate, severe and critical symptoms.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Ilocos Norte Gov. Matthew Marcos Manotoc said other government hospitals in the province had expanded their COVID bed capacity to ease the pressure on MMMH&MC.

The provincial hospital now has 18 beds for patients with severe COVID while district hospitals in Bangui and Dingras towns have 14 beds for patients with moderate symptoms, the governor said.

The Department of Health’s COVID tracker said hospitals in the province are at “high risk” because bed occupancy rate has reached 83 percent of only 220 beds available for COVID patients as of Aug. 3.

The governor apologized to all health workers, especially to those in MMMH&MC who have been infected.

TSB