PGH reaches full COVID-19 bed capacity

Philippine General Hospital (PGH) in Manila has reached COVID-19 capacity but says it is not overwhelmed.

Dr. Jonas del Rosario, spokesperson for the PGH, said on Thursday that the hospital currently had 172 COVID-19 patients, including 145 confirmed cases. The rest were suspected carriers of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“Definitely, we saw an increasing trend in our admission,” Del Rosario said, adding that 172 was the highest number of coronavirus cases the hospital has had so far.But Del Rosario was quick to add that the PGH was not overwhelmed, despite hitting capacity.

“Basically, what the PGH is doing is we try to use some buffer beds to accommodate patients in excess of the 130,” he said, referring to the equivalent of 30 percent of capacity required by the government. “We try to find ways to admit and manage patients even if their numbers are beyond our allocation capacity.”

He added: “Besides, our bed situation is dynamic. Let’s say we have 172 now, but tomorrow we may have 150 because we probably were able to send home some patients.”

Del Rosario said 80 percent of the hospitals’ COVID-19 patients were mild to moderate cases, “which means they can recover and can be sent home.”

He attributed the rise in cases to increased testing and the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions to reopen the economy.

The Department of Health (DOH) instructed Metro Manila hospitals on Monday to comply with the 30 percent of capacity requirement and be ready to add 20 percent more in the coming days as coronavirus infections hit record highs.

No deaths

On Thursday, the DOH reported 1,395 additional infections, bringing the national total to 51,754. Of the total, 37,627 were active cases, which presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Wednesday was what the government now wanted to highlight under its new system of case reporting.

“Nonactive cases don’t matter,” Roque said.

Of the additional cases reported on Thursday, 1,184 were fresh, or patients who tested positive for the new coronavirus in the last three days, and 211 were late, or patients who tested positive four days ago or earlier.

Metro Manila accounted for 390 of the fresh cases, followed by Central Visayas, which had 243. The metropolis also had the largest number of the late cases, 53, while Central Visayas had 47.

The DOH also reported that 225 more patients had recovered, bringing the total number of COVID-19 survivors to 12,813. It reported no new deaths, keeping the death toll at 1,314.