Rizal hospital runs out of rooms for dengue patients

Dengue continued its rampage east of Metro Manila after a hospital in Rizal province was reported to be running out of rooms and beds to accommodate patients who have fallen ill to the disease. Natalie Sandoval, attending pediatric physician at the Rizal Medical Center, said hospital staff refitted two wards to accommodate patients but they quickly ran out of space. "We added 10 beds at the pediatric ward, and opened one ward at the neuro ward due to the sudden surge in the number of patients since Tuesday. But that was not enough. Even the hallway had to be used to accommodate the patients," dzBB radio quoted Sandoval as saying. The pediatric ward has a capacity of 50 patients but it was quickly overcrowded, forcing doctors and nurses to use the hallways to accommodate the patients. She said "two to three" patients had to share a single bed, which were lined up at the hallway, the neuro ward, and the pediatric ward. "It's still not enough" she said. As of Wednesday morning, she said the Rizal Medical Center has so far accommodated 251 patients, but 14 were admitted Tuesday alone. At least two had died since September 1. The Rizal provincial government had declared states of calamity in three towns because of dengue. The DOH earlier said it expects the dengue threat to last until October, when the rainy season is expected to end. Despite public alarm over recent dengue cases, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III declared Friday that there were only "clustered outbreaks" in some areas and that there was no epidemic. Based on DOH data, the number of dengue cases recorded this year was "relatively low" compared to what was recorded last year. Duque noted that there were 14,915 dengue cases recorded from January 1 to September 9, which is 58 percent lower compared to the 25,680 reported during the same period last year. There were still also fewer deaths attributed to dengue, with 188 so far this year compared to last year's 316. -GMANews.TV