Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 12) — With COVID-19 beds remaining full, the St. Luke’s Medical Center is still under strain due to the surge in cases.
Chief medical officer Dr. Benjamin Campomanes, Jr. on Monday told CNN Philippines that a number of patients seeking treatment still have to wait to secure a bed, as the capital region continues to log high numbers of new infections.
Even so, he said the emergency room situation has gotten “moderately” better in recent days.
“Before the weekend, we would have people waiting even on chairs for a room,” Campomanes said. “Now it’s more manageable. Still [at] 100% [capacity], but we are now managing our patients well. They’re able to get beds in the emergency room.”
This could be a result of a number of things, he said, including the opening of more COVID-19 facilities. Major hospitals and the government have also launched teleconsultation platforms, which means mild to moderate patients can consult doctors virtually instead of heading to medical facilities.
“Third, hopefully, there truly is a decrease in infection rate, and four, all the hospitals have increased their capacities as requested by the IATF (Inter-Agency Task Force),” he added.
Though they declared full capacity, Campomanes said the SLMC hasn’t been turning away COVID-19 patients over the past two days.
“We are able to contain our emergency room, which sometimes can have 20 to 25 people,” he said. “Now, we have about 10 to 15 patients waiting in the emergency room for rooms.”
He said moderate cases are either transferred or referred to government facilities. Most of the mild patients are also not admitted and instead advised to quarantine at home or in isolation areas provided by their local government unit, he added.
The Health department tracker showed that 52 of the 154 hospitals accommodating COVID-19 cases in the capital region have reached critical capacity as of April 10. This means over 85% of their beds have already been occupied.
Over 15,000 lives nationwide have now been lost to the pandemic, with the overall case tally rising past 876,000. Of the total infected, some 157,000 are active cases, while more than 703,000 have gotten well, based on the latest official tally.
