Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 7) — The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) on Tuesday said 150 patients are currently admitted in its emergency room, more than double its 70-bed capacity.
“Sa ngayon po ay may 150 patients po na nasa loob no’n kaya 200% po ang capacity (ngayon). Dahil po don, masikip po ang emergency room at marami pong pasyente ang hindi matanggap sa ward,” PGH spokesperson Jonas del Rosario said in a public briefing.
[Translation: Right now, there are 150 patients in our emergency room that’s why we are at 200% capacity. Because of that, it is crowded and a lot of patients cannot be admitted to the ward.]
He clarified those admitted are non-COVID patients. Most have pneumonia, diabetes, and diseases of the heart, lungs, and kidney. Other patients were brought in due to accidents or trauma.
“Halos mag-iisang buwan na rin po na dumadagsa ang pasyente sa aming ospital lalo na po nitong huling dalawang linggo. Talagang umaapaw po ‘yung aming emergency room,” Del Rosario shared.
[Translation: For almost a month now, a lot of patients have been going to our hospital, especially in the past two weeks. Our emergency room is really overflowing.]
To address the problem, Del Rosario said they implemented several measures, including maximizing bed capacity, coordinating with other hospitals to admit some of their patients, and adding more beds.
“‘Yung mga wards po ay dinagdagan namin ng at least 10-15 beds. ‘Yung iba nga po hindi na kama kundi mga stretcher beds na lang muna po para ma-accommodate ‘yung mga pasyente,” he said.
[Translation: We’ve added at least 10-15 beds in the wards. Some are not even beds but stretcher beds just to accommodate our patients.]
He also urged the public to go to their local hospital or secondary provincial hospitals if their conditions are not severe or an emergency.
Meanwhile, Del Rosario said the PGH continues to be a COVID referral center. However, they have only a few COVID-19 patients, mostly moderate cases, he added.
“Meron po kaming facility, ‘yung tinatawag naming Bayanihan Isolation Facility. Andon po lahat ‘yung aming mga COVID patients ngayon. Sa ngayon po ang bilang lang ay kulang na ang 20,” he said.
[Translation: We have a facility which we call Bayanihan Isolation Facility. All our COVID patients are there. As of now, there are about twenty.]
