COVID-19 ward in Northern Samar hospital almost full

TACLOBAN CITY––The provincial hospital in Northern Samar will limit admission to emergency cases to free up more beds in the wake of the rising number of COVID-19 patients.

Provincial health officer Ninfa Kam said the bed allocation at the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital in the capital town of Catarman was almost full.

In a statement, Kam said the hospital increased its bed allocation from 30 to 50 for COVID-19 patients. But at present, there were already 44 patients confined in the COVID-19 ward.

“Increasing our COVID wards means increasing our staff to man the ward. However, sad to say, 14 of our staff are in (an) isolation facility. In view of this, the Northern Samar Provincial Hospital will limit its admission to emergency cases only to free up other beds for a possible increase in COVID-19 cases needing hospitalization,” she said in her advisory.

She added that even the out-patient service would also be “put on hold,” except for follow-up of post-surgery, post-caesarian section, and other important OPD follow-ups.

Northern Samar has 215 active cases out of the total of 3,016 since the pandemic began last year. Of the number, 2,732 have recovered and 68 died.

On Aug. 23, the Department of Health announced 105 new COVID-19 cases in the region, pushing Eastern Visayas’ total to 39,795.

Its recoveries are now at 37,866, with 1,482 considered active and 447 deaths.

lzb