The Pasig City General Hospital (PCGH) is limiting its emergency room and ward services after it reached its maximum authorized bed capacity for hospital confinement.
This came after the PCGH advisory on July 26 that was posted by the Ugnayan ng Pasig's social media pages on July 28.
Dr. Alicia Santos, hospital administrator of the PCGH, said they issued the advisory to inform the public of the hospital's current status and appealed for their understanding.
"Ang wards namin madaming pasyente doon. Usually nag-a-average kami ng 30 patients na kailangan ilagay sa ward. Hindi maitaas ang bilang dahil puno na ang ward (Our ward is overwhelmed with patients. Usually we have an average of 30 patients that we need to transfer to the wards . We cannot increase our admissions because our wards are already full)," said Santos in an interview with Manila Bulletin on Aug. 3.
According to Santos, the PCGH had a 200 bed capacity prior to the pandemic. This was reduced to 167 beds during the pandemic.
Out of the 167 beds, 39 are allotted for Covid cases, which are subdivided into "suspect," "probable," or "confirmed." There are 128 beds reserved for non-Covid cases.
PCGH has pediatric, surgery, obstetrics-gynecology, and a medical wards, as well as intensive care units (ICU) for adults, neo-natal, and pediatric groups.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 3, the PCGH recorded that 14 out 39 beds are occupied with Covid cases while 88 beds are occupied by non-Covid cases.
There are 20 patients who are awaiting transition to the hospital's wards.
"We cannot transfer them to the wards because we cannot mix the patients with infectious and non-infectious diseases," Santos said.
Based on the advisory, rooms that could previously occupy four up to six beds are occupied by a single patient who is being treated for an infectious disease.
Services on-going
Santos assured the public that they "accommodate patients as long as they can based on their authorized bed capacity."
Patients are properly referred and transferred to other hospitals in case the PCGH can no longer admit patients.
"The emergency room will still accommodate them. Pwede pa rin sila magpa-check kasi hindi namin sila pwedeng itaboy. Ngayon, halimbawa, emergency case, gagamutin sila sa emergency room. Kung for admission sila at hindi namin kayang i-admit dito sa PCGH, ang ginagawa ng mga emergency room doctors ay nagcocoordinate na ma-admit sila sa ibang ospital (They will still be checked by our doctor because we cannot refuse patients. In case of emergency, they will be treated in the emergency room. However if they need to be confined in PCGH, the emergency room doctors will coordinate with other hospitals to admit the patients)," Santos said.
She said the PCGH is doing all it can to enhance its admission capacity especially when there is a "patient surge."
She added they have installed hospital beds along the hallways and are trying to decongest the patients in the transition wards of the emergency room.
They have also asked the various departments in the hospital to allow patients of other departments to use their allotted beds if they are unoccupied.
The PCGH offers teleconsult and telemedicine services via its out-patient department.
Santos said face-to-face consultations are also full.
Their check-up services start at 8 a.m. By 5 a.m., patients can already enlist.
Santos urged patients who wish to consult onsite to refrain from lining up before 5 a.m.
Covid-positive frontliners
The advisory stated that some of the healthcare workers in the hospital tested positive for Covid-19.
Santos said the spread of the infections was mostly among the hospital's resident doctors in the pediatric ward.
They were confirmed positive for Covid last week.
Given their 7-day isolation period, Santos said some frontliners have resumed their hospital duties while the others are coming back in a few days.
Lack of healthcare workers
Another factor that contributed to the PCGH's decision to limit admissions is the deficiency in the number of healthcare workers such as doctors, hospital staff, and midwives.
The advisory stated that many medical frontliners are opting to work overseas.
Despite the recruitment efforts of the hospital's human resources department, only a few are applying for a job in the hospital.
"Madaming mga nagreresign na mga nurses. Mayroon tayong natatanggap na resignation letter every week...Mas madaming umaalis kesa sa mga nag-a-apply (Many of our nurses are resigning. We receive resignation letters every week...There are more people resigning than there are applicants)," Santos said.
This has been a long-standing problem in the hospital, she said.
The challenges facing the hospital brought by the Covid-19 pandemic eased when the local government converted the Pasig City Children's Hospital (PCCH) into a Covid-19 Referral Center.
Covid-19 positive patients identified in the PCGH are transferred to the referral facility in order for the hospital to accommodate non-Covid cases.
The Department of Pediatrics in PCGH is currently accepting applicants for their three-year residency training program, as posted by the City Public Information Office (PIO) on Tuesday, Aug. 2.
"Ang tawag natin sa mga resident doctors ay "under training." Sila rin ang tumitingin sa mga pasyente under the supervision ng mga pediatric consultants. Bawat department ay nangangailangan talaga ng resident doctors (Our resident doctors are considered "under training," operating under the supervision of our pediatric consultants. Every department in our hospital is in need of resident doctors)," Santos said.
"Pag natapos sila ng residency program -- 4 years usually -- nagga-graduate na sila, umaalis na sila dito. Ibig sabihin we need to get more, train more resident doctors every year (When they finish their 4 year residency program, they graduate and leave the hospital. That means we need to get more, train more resident doctors every year)," she added.
Monkeypox
Santos said the PCGH has received the guidelines regarding monkeypox from the Department of Health (DOH). The PCGH is preparing its own guidelines based on the DOH.
She said that based on the advice of the head of the PCGH's infectious disease committee, the hospital is currently unable to accommodate a patient with monkeypox.
"In the event that a positive Monkeypox case may be found in Pasig City, PCGH is not capable of admitting a case of monkeypox because it is infectious. We will be referring the patient to our ITF," she said.
Santos clarified that this is only a preliminary and unofficial announcement. The official announcement will be released when the PCGH guidelines are finalized.
Dengue
Santos said the number of dengue cases in 2021 and in 2022 have relatively been the same.
However, dengue cases rose in the last quarter of 2021, based on the PCGH's census.
More cases were also recorded in July 2022, with majority of cases found in children than in adults.