
For the past six days, a steady increase in the admission of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients was seen in the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), its spokesperson confirmed.
“For the past six days, nakita namin ‘yung steady increase ng mga pasyente na naa-admit sa aming hospital na may COVID (For the past six days, we have seen the steady increase of COVID-19 patients admitted in our hospital),” said PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario in an interview over DZMM TeleRadyo on Saturday, Jan. 1.
Del Rosario disclosed that from 30 confirmed COVID-19 patients last Dec. 25, its admissions nearly tripled to 85 as of Dec. 31.
In terms of bed capacity, Del Rosario said the hospital has allocated 100 beds for COVID-19 patients in the meantime as they were also catering to non-COVID-19 patients.
“Hindi pa namin basta-basta pwede ibalik ng 300 to 325 for COVID patients kasi puno kami ng non-COVID patients. Pero syempre kung malaki ang pangangailangan, mapipilitan kami na i-convert ‘yung non-COVID wards to COVID (We can’t just return to 300 to 325 beds for COVID-19 patients because we are full of non-COVID patients. But of course, if it is really needed, we have no choice but to convert non-COVID wards into COVID),” he added.
He likewise explained that they are now coordinating with other COVID referral hospitals and quarantine facilities in preparation for the possibility that the admission in PGH would overflow.
Meanwhile, Del Rosario said 70 percent of the COVID-19 patients admitted in PGH were experiencing moderate symptoms, 20 percent were severe to critical, and the remaining patients were categorized as mild.
“As of now ay wala pong confirmed na Omicron case sa PGH (As of now, there is no confirmed case of Omicron in PGH),” said Del Rosario. (Charie Mae F. Abarca)