UERMMC, UST Hospital flooded, need supplies

Floodwaters inundated the ground floor levels of the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center (UERRMC) and the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital Tuesday.   At the UERMMC, the floodwaters came from the San Juan River which overflowed after non-stop heavy rains fell on Metro Manila. Chest-deep waters swept into the hospital.   UE, through its official Twitter account, said UERMMC needs diesel fuel for its electricity generators, which power the hospital equipment and facilities.   Responding to the plea for help the Philippine Red Cross sent fuel for the generators.   GMA News’ Joseph Morong, in his reports on 24 Oras and State of the Nation with Jessica Soho, said the flood swept into the UERMMC emergency room and cafeteria.   Hospital personnel said equipment and patients were moved from the ground floor to the second floor.   In Sampaloc, Manila from within the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Hospital images of a flooded ground floor of the medical care facility were sent out through social media channels, including Twitter and Facebook.   The emergency room and diagnostic examination units are located on the ground floor of the UST Hospital. Large sections of the UST campus, including the parade grounds, formed a lake of floodwaters.   Tweets about the situation within the UST Hospital said patients and personnel need food and other supplies to help them get through the ordeal.   Over at the Philippine General Hospital of the University of the Philippines Manila campus, there were initially some pleas for help sent out through Twitter but which were deleted when the UP Manila Online Twitter account posted that “PGH is under control. Thank you very much. All is well in PGH.”   Social media reaction to the difficulties of UST Hospital and UERMMC ranged from sober to concerned to panicked. Facebook user  "Christian James" personally went to PGH to see for himself the situation there. "The situation inside PGH isn't that bad. First of all, they don't need to be rescued. As for the supplies, food and water in PGH has always been scarce but people were hoarding food from the COOP since last night due to panic. Some residents, clerks and interns have been there for more than 48 hours since they prefer to stay than to go home since it's not that safe," he said. "There was even a foreigner who went to the ER because of the tweets he read and volunteered to help. The clerks told us they don't know what to do with him.I hope this will clear things out. As of now, there's no need to worry about PGH but let's just hope the floods will subside so that the situation won't get worse," he added.