Seventy-nine percent has been utilized, while 11 of the 12 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds are occupied. Only one of the three slots for dialysis remains available, for a 66.67 percent utilization rate, and only four of the 11 mechanical ventilators are available, for a 63.64 percent utilization rate.
The data, according to the South Cotabato Integrated Provincial Health Office, is based on six hospitals with COVID-19 current admissions.
The South Cotabato Medical Society (SCMS) has called on other private hospitals in the province to provide hospital beds to COVID-19 patients as the surge in cases placed COVID hospitals in almost full capacity.
“We understand these hospitals have their own reasons but since we are on a surge, we should help each other,” said the outgoing president of the SCMS, Dr. Rachelle Suarez, in a statement released by the provincial government last Thursday, June 10.
She said at this point, the government needs to intervene for other private hospitals to accommodate COVID patients.
Suarez said only three hospitals in the province – the South Cotabato Provincial Hospital (SCPH), Socsksargen General Hospital (SGH), and the Dr. Arturo P. Pingoy Medical Center (DAPPMC) – cater to COVID-19 patients.
As of June 11, the South Cotabato Provincial Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (PESU) recorded 119 new COVID-19 cases in the province, bringing the total to 5,021, with 1,249 active cases, 3,654 recoveries, and 118 deaths.
Also in the same statement, Dr. Noel Pingoy, president of the association of all internists in Region 12 or the South Cotabato, Sarangani, and General Santos (Socsargen) area said that COVID-19 hospitals in General Santos City are also in full capacity.
Forty percent of their COVID-19 patients came from the neighboring areas of South Cotabato, Sarangani, and Sultan Kudarat.
DOH data for Region 12 showed that as of June 11, General Santos City has recorded 4,509 cases, 677 of which are active, with 145 deaths and 3,687 recoveries.
“The surge is so real that we need additional equipment such as ventilators, hospital beds, and health care personnel in the hospitals,” Pingoy said. “We appeal to the provincial government to help us. As always, we never said no to the call to help others.”