THE Philippine General Hospital (PGH) yesterday said it has reached 93 percent of its occupancy rate and is now unable to accept severe and critical cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
In a radio interview, PGH spokesman Dr. Jonas del Rosario said almost all of the hospital’s COVID-19 allocated beds are already occupied.
“We already have 196 COVID-19 patients at the PGH. Our maximum bed capacity for COVID-19 patients is at 210. So we are almost 93 percent full already,” said Del Rosario.
Del Rosario also said intensive care unit (ICU) beds for COVID-19 patients already have a 90 percent occupancy rate.
“There are only a few ICU beds left and we are reserving these to our present patients because some may eventually need to be brought to the ICU. So we won’t be able to accept critically ill patients for the moment,” he said.
However, he said the country’s premier government hospital can still accommodate moderate cases of COVID-19.
“We still have vacancies in our ward beds for moderate cases. So we are still accepting moderate cases at the PGH,” said Del Rosario.
The PGH is one of the designated COVID-19 referral hospitals in the country.
Likewise, the Lung Center of the Philippines announced that it has reached full capacity of its ICU beds for severe and critical cases.
LCP spokesman Dr. Norberto Francisco said in an interview with ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo: “Napuno na ang aming ICU beds and ICU wings. We dedicated a lot of beds for these patients kasi ang Lung Center, referral ito for severe and critical cases kaya nirereserba namin ang resources ng hospital para dito. But the past two to three days ang bilis napuno (Our ICU beds and ICU wings have reached full capacity. We dedicated a lot of beds for these patients because Lung Center is a referral hospital for severe and critical cases which is why we reserved our beds for these cases. But the past two to three days saw a surge and we have already filled up the beds).”
Francisco said the hospital has reserved around 250 beds for all patients, but this was reduced to 169 since some rooms have to be re-designed to accommodate only single beds for proper isolation of patients.
Of the 169 beds, 75 percent have been allotted for coronavirus patients while the rest are reserved for non-COVID-19 patients.
“Of the 75 percent of beds that we dedicated for COVID-19, all ICU beds are now occupied.
All beds for COVID-19 have reached 83 percent capacity but the remaining unoccupied beds are only for moderate cases.)
Francisco said the hospital needs more manpower especially with the continued increase of patients being admitted at the facility.
On Monday, the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Quezon City and the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City announced they have reached their full ICU capacities. The Makati Medical Center also said that its critical care beds for COVID-19 patients have reached full capacity.
The Medical City likewise announced on Tuesday that it has reached full capacity of COVID-19 allotted beds.