The Medical City: Internal memo meant to manage flow of new cases

MANILA, Philippines — The Medical City (TMC) said the internal memorandum from the hospital’s Epidemic Rapid Response Team leader was issued to control new cases in the hospital.

“To address a sudden surge and capacity of our hospital to mobilize a fully-equipped and protected staff, an internal memo meant to temporarily control the in-flow of new cases was unfortunately leaked to social media,” Eugenio Jose Ramos, President of TMC, said in a statement.

This came after the memorandum, dated March 10, ordered all departments of TMC to refer symptomatic patients under investigation for COVID-19 to other health centers as the TMC is already at full capacity.

But Ramos said they are still accommodating patients given that they have the capacity to do so.

“Let it be clear, therefore that as this endemic evolves in ways that we cannot but must anticipate, The Medical City… will remain open to all patients who deserve our care, for as long as our capacity to do so,” he said.

Pasig Mayor Vico Sotto also earlier clarified the allegations, saying the hospital is still implementing normal operations.

The Pasig-based hospital also noted that its Emergency Department took care of 31 persons under investigation for the fatal disease which exceeded the daily load of their health workers.

“Handling PUIs is a tedious systematic task that is guided by a scientifically-validated algorithm,” read the statement.

Ramos said to address this, he assured the public that the “hospital’s patient traffic flow and isolation, protection section are in place.”

As of Tuesday, the Philippine health department recorded 33 patients infected by the coronavirus disease, which was caused by the novel coronavirus. Of the number, seven are isolated at the TMC.

The novel coronavirus, which first emerged from China’s City of Wuhan from Hubei province, is named as SARS-CoV-2 as per the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.

The new coronavirus causes mild symptoms such as fever, cough and cold but it can cause serious illness such as pneumonia especially to older adults and people diagnosed with existing diseases.

The coronavirus is a family viruses whose surfaces have a crown-like appearance. The viruses are being named for the spikes on their surfaces.