Last hospital standing

After Supertyphoon “Yolanda,” most pictures showing the extent of devastation in Guiuan town, Eastern Samar province, included  a centrally located, four-story, blue building. This is the privately owned Immaculate Conception Clinic and Hospital.

Guiuan had three hospitals, one birthing home and three private clinics. For two weeks after the typhoon, only Immaculate Conception Clinic and Hospital continued to function despite the damage to the building. One private clinic could no longer operate because the doctor was a typhoon casualty, together with her husband, a former Philippine National Bank branch manager.

While Yolanda was ravaging Guiuan, a Cesarean section operation was being performed in the hospital. For the next five days, the facility was teeming with victims, most of them with traumatic injuries, who were prioritized over other cases seeking hospital care.

The doctors were  mostly suturing wounds and managing fractures. Surgeries were being performed almost daily.

True to their Hippocratic Oath, the doctors labored beyond the call of duty. Just imagine what would have happened to the injured victims if no hospital catered to their needs.

The providential hand seemed to have guided the hospital management. Surprisingly, the hospital was well prepared for the calamity. All seven doctors were in the hospital. Even this writer, who manages a satellite hospital in another town, 44 kilometers from Guiuan, was there.

Four days before Yolanda, suppliers had already delivered a month’s supply of drugs, IV fluids, medical supplies and oxygen.

The confluence of events enabled the hospital to meet the challenge of providing urgently needed services.

Providing meals for almost 100 people, patients and hospital personnel was another serious problem. This writer designated himself as a one-man food brigade. Through the help of the local chamber of commerce, of which he is an active member, he was able to procure enough food.

By strange coincidence, the satellite hospital in General MacArthur town—Our Lady of Guadalupe Hospital—that serves five towns was also the last medical facility functioning in the area. The two public hospitals suffered from the storm’s onslaught and could not operate for two weeks.

Indeed, Immaculate Conception Clinic and Hospital and Our Lady of Guadalupe Hospital played a heroic role in the aftermath of the disaster.

(Editor’s Note: Alfredo Y. Perez Jr., the administrator of Immaculate Conception Clinic and Hospital, is a former regional director of the Department of Health. He was involved in relief operations during the Ormoc City flood and the  tsunami on Limasawa Island, Southern Leyte.)