ADVERTISEMENT
The Medical City's COVID-19 beds reach full capacity
The Medical City on Tuesday joined the growing number of hospitals across the country that have reached full capacity for cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
According to Sandra Aguinaldo’s report on “24 Oras,” the hospital management appealed for the public to take critically ill COVID-19 cases elsewhere in the meantime.
“We cannot go beyond our capacity to take care of COVID-19 patients without posing serious risks to everyone,” the hospital said in a statement.
“We also do not wish to compromise service to our general patients, who have no less serious medical needs and now comprise majority of our case load,” it added.
Meanwhile, 96 of the 125 COVID-19 beds at the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) have been occupied.
The isolation room and intensive care unit of the hospital are also at full capacity due to COVID-19 cases.
“Sa ngayon, full house kami sa critical cases. We can still accept moderate cases kasi 58 percent ang capacity ng aming ward ngayon. We have around more or less 60 ventilators, 43 ‘yung naka-ventilate,” LCP spokesman Dr. Norberto Francisco said.
“Parang less than 20 na from yesterday’s 40. Ang bilis, ano? Ang bilis! At saka mga critical ‘yung dumarating ngayon, kaya talagang dapat ingat sa community,” he added.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III earlier asked private hospitals to allot 30 percent of beds for COVID-19 cases after learning that some facilities only dedicated 20 percent of its beds to COVID-19 patients.
ADVERTISEMENT
Public hospitals, meanwhile, can still increase their COVID-19 bed allocation to 50 percent.
The DOH will also create a monitoring system that will indicate which hospitals can still accept COVID-19 patients.
The department earlier reported that nine more hospitals nationwide had reached full bed capacity for COVID-19 cases.
The critical care utilization rate in Metro Manila has also breached the “danger zone” at over 70 percent.
The Philippines has recorded 57,545 confirmed cases with 20,459 recoveries and 1,603 fatalities as of Tuesday afternoon. -Julia Mari Ornedo/NB, GMA News