Hospitals already 'overwhelmed, overran,' says group president

Hospitals are already "overwhelmed and overran" in light of the surge in COVID-19 cases mainly due to their depleted and overworked manpower, according to the president of the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) on Wednesday.

"Nangyayari na yung kinatatakutan nating mangyari [what we are fearing to happen is already happening]," Dr. Jaime Almora said in an interview on Unang Balita.

The severity of the situation prompted Almora to say that the country has already "lost" amid the war against the coronavirus.

"Hindi tayo natatalo, natalo na [we're not losing, we already lost]," he said, two days after the country recorded 10,016 new infections in a day -- a record-high number.

Lack of manpower

According to Almora, hospital capacity is not as big a problem as its capability to attend to patients, noting the lack of manpower many of these facilities are facing amid the pandemic.

"Ibig sabihin kung wala silang capability, not necessarily wala silang capacity. Kung beds ang pag-uusapan, merong beds. Ang wala ay ang mag-aasikaso sa pasyente," he said.

(If they don't have capability it doesn't mean they don't have capacity. We have beds, but what is lacking is those who will take care of the patients.)

He added that even before the pandemic, the country is experiencing a dearth in nurses due to a "confluence of events" -- among them the phasing out of non-performing nursing schools, the K-12 program that resulted in no nursing graduates for a year, and the migration of nurses from private hospitals to the government due to bigger salaries.

"Nag-conspire ang lahat ng mga yan para mawalan ng nurses ang ating private hospitals [all those events contributed to the lack of nurses in private hospitals]," Almora said.

He also said medical staff are already overworked, with most of them clocking in 16-hour shifts.

Reinforcement sought

Almora then appealed to government agencies that employed the nurses from private hospitals to help "provide reinforcement" in the war against COVID-19.

"Kumbaga sa giyera, nasa firing line sila at wala nang reinforcement. Nanawagan kami sa ahensiya ng gobyerno na nag-employ ng maraming nurse to provide reinforcement," he said.

(The nurses are at the firing line in this war and there is no reinforcement. We are appealing to government agencies that employ the nurses to provide reinforcement.)

Almora also appealed to mild COVID-19 cases to just isolate themselves in their homes and to the public seeking medical attention to try teleconsulting.

"Tumawag na lang sa mga doktor, huwag nang pumunta sa ospitals [just call the doctors and avoid going to the hospitals]," he said.

Almora said the mental attitude of every individual should be that they would not get much help if they are brought to the hospital due to the limited number of nurses.

The surge in the number of COVID-19 has prompted the national government to reimpose enhanced community quarantine in Metro Manila, Laguna, Bulacan, Cavite and Rizal for the Holy Week.

Almora said they are one with the recommendations for a possible extension.

"Walang question, yan talaga ang remedyo kung ayaw natin matuloy ito [no question, that's the right way if we don't want this surge to continue]," he said. --KBK, GMA News