COVID QUEUE Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center in Pagadian City, a referral facility for coronavirus cases, is bursting at the seams, with ambulances carrying patients forced to wait at the driveway—oxygen tanks within reach—until beds become available. —PHOTO COURTESY OF DR. RAMON BLANCIA
PAGADIAN CITY—The Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center (ZDSMC), the province’s main referral facility for coronavirus patients, was bursting at the seams due to a surge of local infections.
Dr. Anatalio Cagampang Jr., ZDSMC chief, said their COVID-19 ward had been fully occupied as of Friday, with the hospital now handing 97 virus patients, 47 in its regular accommodation facility, and 50 in a separate temporary treatment and monitoring facility built just near the hospital.
On Friday, Provincial Board Member Jennifer Mariano posted on social media a photo of an ambulance and a private van parked outside the ZDSMC building with oxygen tanks on their sides.
Cagampang confirmed that those in the vehicles were COVID-19 patients awaiting to be admitted into the hospital. Other patients, he added, stayed under a tent.
Due to the swamp of virus patients, Cagampang said they would be opening a new space in a nearby building that could accommodate an additional 35 beds and this would require the hiring of additional nurses and other health-care workers.
Lockdowns
As of Thursday, the province has 488 active COVID-19 cases, of which 166 were in Pagadian City. Two weeks ago, the total active cases in the province was only 200.
The municipality of Bayog was placed on a seven-day lockdown starting on Thursday after cases surged to 52, from only eight two weeks earlier.
Also placed on lockdown was the Zamboanga del Sur Provincial Jail in Barangay San Jose, Pagadian City, after 32 inmates tested positive for COVID-19.
Cagampang said that for 14 days, the facility was restricted to visitors. Its personnel are also not allowed to go out.
Also on Thursday, the Pagadian city government opened its 21-bed infirmary located in Barangay Danlugan after securing DOH approval, Mayor Samuel Co said.
He added that the facility could be used to house COVID-19 patients to ease the overcapacity in the ZDSMC. —LEAH D. AGONOY