Cebu private hospitals overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients
Published Jul 2, 2020 11:19:35 AM
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 2) — Private hospitals in Cebu province, including coronavirus hotspot Cebu City, are being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, according to data and an official of the Department of Health.
DOH data as of June 30 show that 77.97 percent of the beds for COVID-19 patients in the province are occupied.
Nearly all or 98 percent of the isolation beds at the Chong Hua Hospital — Cebu City’s major private facilities handling COVID-19 patients — are presently being used, DOH spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a media forum on Thursday.
All beds are taken in other private hospitals in the province such as Mactan Doctors Hospital in Lapu Lapu City and Cebu North General Hospital in Cebu City, according to the DOH. This is also the case for Eversley Childs Sanitarium in Mandaue City and Talisay District Hospital, in Talisay, which are DOH hospitals.
Vergeire noted that Cebu is experiencing what private hospitals in Metro Manila experienced during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak a few months ago. Private health care providers are being swamped by patients as they tend to be the preferred facilities, not government hospitals.
“Ang talagang pinupuntahan ng tao ay private hospitals,” she said. [Translation: People really go to private hospitals.]
She reiterated that Cebu City also needs additional health care workers, which is why the DOH has deployed additional doctors, including infectious disease specialists, and nurses to private and government hospitals there.
“Ang private hospitals nila ay na-o-overwhelm pati sa [human health resources],” she said. Translation: Their private hospitals are being overwhelmed, including their health care human resources.]
Vergeire said that COVID-19 inter-agency task force members including DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, overseer of the COVID-19 response in Cebu City, have been visiting hospitals in Cebu since Wednesday to determine how the government could be of assistance to them.
