The closure of the emergency room at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) will likely to last for a week, its spokesperson said Wednesday, Aug. 25.
"Hopefully po sa loob ng mga isang linggo. Meron po diyan mga pa recover nadin. (Hopefully in about a week. There are those who will soon recover. We're trying to transfer our patients who are almost recovering to some other hospitals or yung iba po isolation facilities (or some to other isolation facilities)," PGH Spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario said in an interview with DZMM Teleradyo.
"We're giving it at least one week. Sana after one week medyo yung mga ibang pasyente naka recover (Hopefully after one week the other patients will recover)," he added.
On Tuesday, Aug. 24, the PGH announced that it will temporarily stop accepting patients in its emergency room amid "record-high" COVID-19 admissions.
PGH, the largest COVID-19 referral hospital in the country, currently has 325 patients admitted to their COVID-19 ward, most of whom were severe cases requiring intensive care, high-flow oxygen, and a ventilator.
"Two hundred fifty po ang nilaan at ito po ay napuno. Tinaas po namin ng 300 beds, maximum na po sana iyon. After a few days yun din po ay napuno (Two hundred and fifty beds was allocated and it is now full. We raised it to 300 beds, that would have been the maximum. After a few days it was also filled) said Del Rosario. "Hindi pa nabibilang doon yung mga nasa emergency room na kailangan pa naming ipasok (Those in the emergency room that we still need to admit are not yet included," he added.
In terms of manpower and equipment, Del Rosario stressed that they can only accommodate a maximum of 320 patients.
"Kasi kahit sabihin mo na may bakante kang room, may bakante kang ventilator, ang isa pong napaka-importanteng component sa pag aalaga ay may doktor ka ba, may nurse ka ba na mag-rarounds diyan (Because even if you say you have a vacant room, you have a vacant ventilator, one very important component of care is 'do you have a doctor or do you have a nurse to go around there)," he explained.
He added that some of their health workers are also getting sick due to fatigue while some were infected by COVID.
Del Rosario, meanwhile, clarified that the hospital will still accept patients in its emergency room as long as it is a severe or critical case.
"Kapag naman po critical at dumating po emergency room namin, nasa pintuan ng PGH ay hindi naman po iyon tatanggahin. Andoon parin ang aming mandato na ang patient -- whether COVID or non-COVID -- gagawan po namin yan ng nauuukol na pag gagamot (When it is critical and it arrived at our emergency room, it will not be denied at the door of PGH. We still have our mandate that the patient -- whether COVID or non-COVID -- we will do what is appropriate to have them treated), "he said.
"I think the advisory is for patients that are not that severely ill na minsan po ay mag-wawalk in po sa PGH (that sometimes will walk in at PGH)," he said.