Daughter grieves as PUI dies after waiting for 11 hours in tent outside Lung Center

A person under investigation for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spent 11 hours on Friday in a tent outside the Lung Center of the Philippines waiting for admission before he was finally confined, only to die a few hours later.

Liwanag Serrano Jr. stayed with other PUIs in a tent for 11 hours, his daughter Rachelle Serrano-Ramos said.

“We are a third world country, I get it. We trust in God’s will but it pains us how my Dad had to be at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Rachelle told GMA News Online in a message on Monday.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Rachelle shared the struggle of her father to receive proper care.

“I refuse for you to be remembered as a statistic. I never thought you will be a casualty of war, a battle we lost without a FIGHT,” she said.

Liwanag Serrano Jr. shown in photo during happier times.  Photo courtesy: Rachelle Serrano-Ramos

Rachelle said they called several hospitals in Quezon City, but all of them were already refusing to admit possible COVID-19 patients.

“All the hospitals pointed us to Lung Center. We called and they said to come but expect a long wait. That long wait was 11 hours.,” she said.

“Eleven hours my Dad was out in the heat sitting in a wheelchair under a triage tent with several coughing PUI’s around him.  My youngest brother never left my father’s side,” she added.

Despite the bad experience, Rachelle told GMA News Online that she has no ill feelings toward health workers as she acknowledged that they are doing the best they can with the resources they have.

Busy day

Sought for comment, Lung Center of the Philippines spokesperson Dr Norberto Francisco told GMA News Online that the hospital was busy at that time as they were handling 80 patients at the triage tent.

"Yung araw na 'yun, napaka-busy. In 24 hours, nagkaroon kami [ng] 80 consult doon sa aming emergency room triage. Hindi biro ang 80. Lahat 'yun iimbestigahan,” Francisco said.

"Doon sa ipapasok, ihahanap namin ng kuwarto isa-isa 'yan,” he said.

Francisco noted that that there were only three nurses attending at the area because many of their health workers were under quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19 patients.

There were two patients in the triage tent who needed to be intubated, while five needed ventilators at that time, Francisco added.

He explained that when a room becomes vacant, they have to disinfect it first and have their engineering team to check its air passage that should be in negative pressure to avoid virus transmission.

He said when they designate an area for patients linked to COVID-19, it gets full immediately.

'Overwhelmed, understaffed'

Before going to the hospital, Rachelle’s brother asked help from the barangay officials of Talipapa to transport his father. However, they were "not taking action," she said. They had to get a private ambulance because her brother is not a driver.

“Bless Lung Center. They can only do so much. We can tell they are so overwhelmed, understaffed and tired just tired. There were so much death around,” Rachelle said.

“I never thought in less than 24 hours, my Dad will pass. He died without family beside him,” she added.

According to Rachelle, they had a hard time finding a funeral home to pull him out from the hospital and cremate his remains.

“As per the funeral coordinator when I requested for my Dad to be bathe and groomed... 'No, we can’t do that anymore. I’m so very sorry. We can’t open the bag. He has to go straight to the crematorium.’ We can’t even say our proper goodbyes,” she said.

“And now even as we want to mourn, we are still confronted with the bureaucracy and the stigma. Funeral homes are now refusing to take in Covid or PUI even if it’s straight up cremation,” she added.

Rachelle thanked Hazel Lechuga Villamayor of Angels Memorial for helping them to give their father “the proper send off.”

“He was pulled out at 9pm and is now undergoing cremation. Wasn’t able to kiss or hug him one last time. This is the most painful part for us,” she said.

Rachelle told GMA News Online that her father was tested for COVID-19 on Friday afternoon. She was told to wait two weeks for the results.

“To all the families that lost, losing and will lose a loved one during this pandemic, they will never be just a number. They are fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, grandfathers and grandmothers,” Rachelle said.

“Our healthcare workers are in a battlefield working their best with little resources they have. Let us all trust God’s will and pray for the end of this pandemic as well as protection to all, she added.

As of Sunday, the Philippines had 1,418 COVID-19 cases, the Department of Health said. The death toll climbed to 71 while recoveries numbered 42.

READ: COVID-19 Dashboard: Summary of Cases in the Philippines

—KG/KBK, GMA News