PGH COVID-19 ward volunteer doctors down to 5

Portion of two wards at UP-PGH dedicated to COVID-19 patients, which were finished in just five days. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Only five of the 25 Department of Health (DOH) volunteer doctors at the Philippine General Hospital’s (PGH) COVID-19 ward have stayed while most of their colleagues decided not to renew their contracts, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario said Monday.

“Ito po’y mga doctor na na-empleyo ng DOH, mga tawag po namin sa kanila mga DOH volunteers. Ang original po na nagpunta sa PGH at tumulong, mga 25 po sila. As of today, ang alam ko po ay lima na lang po ang natitira,” Del Rosario said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

(These are doctors employed by the DOH, the DOH volunteers. The original number assigned to the PGH and helped us was 25. As of today, only five are left.)

“Iba ibang time po sila hindi nag-renew, hindi po isang bagsakan ito, over the course na isang taon na rin, may iba po na hindi na nag-renew,” he added.

Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Image from the PGH Facebook page

(They did not renew their contracts on different dates, they did not do it at once. The non-renewal was over the course of one year.)

Del Rosario said many of the doctors who did not renew their contracts wanted to pursue their subspecialty training.

Due to the lack of staff, Del Rosario said the PGH has employed “task-sharing” between departments to help its Internal Medicine Department which handles COVID-19 patients.

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