The government-owned Justice Jose Abad Santos General Hospital (JJASGH) temporarily closed its OB-Gyne department Saturday (August 8) after its occupancy rate hit 233 percent.
In an advisory released Sunday (August 9), the JJASGH management said their recovery room, that has a capacity of only eight beds, now holds at least 31 patients.
They also have six expecting mothers who require surgery for cesarean deliveries, but they can only use one operating room because the other is reserved for coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients.
"Even non-duty OB Doctors are being recalled to help the duty team," it said.
Manila Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said the temporary closure will allow the hospital to decongest, maintain physical distancing of patients, and protect its staff.
"We closed our acceptance for expecting mothers because we have already breached our load capacity (at JJASGH)," he said in a statement Monday (August 10).
"We have augmented adjacent hospitals, such as Gat Andres Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center, to ensure that our doctors will not have to deal with a bottleneck of patients," he added.