Ward for elderly now a must in QC hospitals

The Quezon City Council has approved a resolution that would require all of the city’s government hospitals to establish wards for senior citizens.

Under the resolution, all hospitals in the city, including Quezon City General Hospital (QCGH), Novaliches District Hospital (NDH) and those that would be built in the future, should allocate 10 percent of their total bed capacity for the exclusive use of elderly residents.

According to data from the Office of Senior Citizens’ Affairs, there are currently over 330,000 senior citizens in the city, mostly women. At present, there are 15 public hospitals, among them the QCGH and NDH, which serve as referral centers for some 60 health centers and clinics in the city.

In the resolution drafted by Councilor Rogelio Juan, the city council said the establishment of a geriatric ward in every local public hospital would be in accordance with a provision of the Expanded Senior Citizens Act of 2010 which made it mandatory for government hospitals to set up a ward exclusively for the elderly.

It further observed that staying in crowded city-owned hospitals was highly inconvenient for senior citizens who were crammed in with other sick patients.

“There is a need to establish a senior citizen ward [in] our city-owned hospitals to be able to exclusively accommodate the medical needs and requirements of our resident senior citizen patients as well as to ensure that they will be assisted, accommodated [and given] priority in their medical needs,” the city council said.