The National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI) is seeking relief from "the burden of catering to COVID-19 patients” by saying it has reached its full capacity in dealing with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
NKTI Executive Director Rose Marie Rosete-Liquete in a statement issued on Monday said the NKTI wants to keep its mandate, mission, and vision to cater to dialysis patients in the country.
To be able to do this, Liquete said the facility must be “relieved of the burden of catering to COVID-19 patients.”
“The COVID-19 pandemic will remain for the next one to two years. And we, the NKTI, your Specialist Transplant Center, cannot be a breeding ground of the virus for that same period,” she said.
Liquete said NKTI’s doorstep is being deluged everyday by “patients who have nowhere to go for their dialysis treatment.”
“This is because of various reasons -- the refusal of the dialysis center due to being COVID-19 positive or having symptoms thereof, closure of dialysis center due to the resignation of nurses fearing the virus, and the closure of dialysis centers due to depleted funds,” she said.
As some other dialysis centers started to close due to "depleted funds," the NKTI official asked the government to reimburse their PhilHealth claims so they could open free-standing dialysis centers for COVID-19 patients and decongest the NKTI.
Liquete said the NKTI plans to build a temporary dialysis facility but it will not be realized until “illegal occupants” in their property are “ejected.
She admitted that if the supposed temporary facility is constructed, they will still face another problem as requesting for additional manpower "would take another long process to secure the Department of Budget and Management's approval."
THe NKTI director suggested that hospitals in the National Capital Region increase both its COVID-19 bed capacity and dialysis stations.
Liquete also asked swabbing centers in barangays to prioritize dialysis patients, with or without symptoms, as they are required to submit two negative swab tests before they can undergo treatment.
She admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic has “shaken” the country's health care system and operation of hospitals in the country.
“What were once reliably functional health institutions, one by one, have reached their limits and operating capacities,” Liquete said.
Liquete also noted that while catering to overseas Filipino workers and locally stranded individuals, it has failed to give attention to their “medically vulnerable” patients who are in need of immediate assistance.
‘NKTI is full’
NKTI’s COVID-19 facility or hot zone has been 100 percent occupied for weeks, and its emergency room has been likewise congested, according to Liquete.
On top of the overwhelming number of patients, Liquete also said NKTI’s manpower is already "dwindling."
As of July 19, a total of 174 NKTI health care workers (HCWs) have tested positive for COVID-19, most of them nurses, nephrologists, internists, and medical technologists. About four to six of its HCWs are testing positive for COVID-19 everyday, Liquete added.
“Would anyone be safe being taken care of by probable carriers at the NKTI? Whether the virus has come about from caring for positive patients or from the community is now moot and academic,” Liquete said.
Liquete said it’s no longer possible for the NKTI to convert a non-COVID room, as they already closed three due to lack of nurses.
She said the hospital also has other patients that need attention, specifically the transplant patients who are “immunocompromised.”
"The hospital hot zone is already like a petri dish teeming with COVID-19. We don't want HCWs to cross from one area to another,” she said.
Liquete said the NKTI has “practically knocked on all doors” but their appeals have “not been fully answered.”
She has advised patients, whether they are COVID-19 positive or not, to transfer to other hospitals of their choice as the NKTI is already full.
Patients can transfer to the quadrant referral centers of the NKTI, namely, Jose Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center and the Lung Center of the Philippines.