COTABATO CITY – The Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) here resumed normal operations on Wednesday after limiting admissions only to emergencies and life-threatening cases in the past two weeks.

CRMC operated on limited capacity starting July 21 after 92 of its staff workers were suspected to have been infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) from a three-year-old patient from Lanao del Sur who died in the hospital.

The parents brought the pneumonia-stricken child to the hospital, but withheld vital information to CRMC staff members that their family had traveled to Manila.

The boy was later found positive of COVID-19 after a series of tests. The exposed workers, meanwhile, were placed under quarantine, and subjected to swab tests and all of them later came out negative of the virus.

The 400-bed CRMC is a referral hospital for COVID-19 patients in Region 12 (Soccsksargen) and parts of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in mainland Mindanao.

“We are opening once more CRMC to regular patients after the required disinfection of all our departments and wards,” Dr. Helen Yambao, CRMC chief, said in a statement.

However, Yambao said no patients would be placed along hallways, no young patients would be placed in one bed, and no visitors would be allowed until further notice.

She said the hospital would only be attending to a total of 371 patients to avoid congestion in keeping with COVID-19 health protocols.

“Our outpatient department would also remain non-operational due to its transfer to the triage area,” Yambao said, adding that she expects full cooperation and understanding from the public following their new regulations.