It’s business as usual in two flooded Quezon City hospitals

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Despite the rising floodwaters that have turned E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue in Quezon City into a no-man’s land for the past days, it’s business as usual at De Los Santos Medical Center.

Dr. Lisander Ragodon, the hospital’s vice president for administration, told the Inquirer that operations remain normal although the emergency room personnel have been moved to higher ground.

At the height of heavy rains on Tuesday,   waist-deep floodwaters seeped into the hospital and submerged the area where the emergency room was located.

Ragodon assured the public that their patients were being well taken care of.

“We have a generator for electricity and we have distributed potable water to our patients. We have four incubators working,” he said.

At the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Medical Center in Quezon City, the floodwaters have subsided to knee-deep level although these continue to prevent hospital personnel and patients from leaving the facility.

“On Tuesday night, the floods even reached neck-deep. But as of Wednesday, it has gone down somehow,” said Supt. Norberto Babagay, station commander of Galas police station which has jurisdiction over the UERMMC.

The police official personally went to the hospital to assess the situation.

Babagay said at the height of the fury of Tropical Storm “Ondoy” in 2009, the hospital was also submerged in floods since it is located in a low-lying area on Aurora Boulevard.

He added that supplies such as food and water were brought to the hospital by a Marine contingent which was sent to the area.

“Operations are still not back to normal there. People can come in but the floods make it hard,” Babagay noted.

Meanwhile, a teenager drowned at the height of torrential rains spawned by the southwest monsoon.

The body of Rico Siervo Cambri, 19, was found floating at the Estero de Avilez near Minerva Street in San Miguel, Manila, by a Navy officer at 9:10 a.m. yesterday.

This was more than 12 hours after he went missing, according to PO3 Henry Navarro of Manila Police District homicide section.

Navarro said that their initial investigation showed that Cambri was last seen with his brother, Lito, when they played under the rain on Tuesday.

Earlier that day, the brothers had borrowed a mini boat from the barangay hall as they wanted to go boating on Minerva Street where the floodwater was neck-deep.

“They went boating and had fun until Lito finally decided to go home due to the worsening weather condition,” Navarro said.  His brother, however, decided to stay, saying he wanted to go for a swim.

When the victim failed to go home, Lito decided to report his disappearance to barangay officials around 5:30 p.m., the police official said.

“Barangay watchmen led by Lino Lim conducted a search and rescue operation but it yielded negative results,” Navarro said.

The victim’s body was later found by Sgt. Edward Balbuena of the Philippine Navy.

It was bloated but bore no external injuries and the police said the case was still under investigation. With Julie M. Aurelio and Jamie Marie Elona, Inquirer.net