MANILA, Philippines — A doctor known as the “pillar” of Philippine cardiology has been added to the casualties of the war against the coronavirus disease 2019 or COVID-19.
Raul Jara, former president of the Philippine Heart Association, succumbed to the viral respiratory illness, the medical community confirmed yesterday. He was a frontliner in the fight against COVID-19.
“This is a sad day for us as we lost another colleague. Our deep condolences to his family,” Philippine Medical Association president Jose Santiago Jr. said. “Philippine cardiology will not be the same without him.”
Jara had tested positive for COVID-19. He was treated at the Philippine Heart Center (PHC) after experiencing flu-like symptoms. The member of UP High Class 1967 was also an avid golfer.
He was the latest Filipino doctor who succumbed to COVID-19, following Israel Bactol, a cardiologist at PHC; Greg Macasaet, an anesthesiologist of Manila Doctors Hospital; Rose Pulido, an oncologist at the San Juan de Dios Hospital, and a pulmonologist from Pangasinan.
St. Luke’s, Makati Med, Medical City
Four major private hospitals in metro Manila announced yesterday they could no longer accept COVID-19 patients.
St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) is no longer accepting COVID-19 patients for confinement in its facilities in Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.
Makati Medical Center (MMC) and The Medical City in Pasig City issued similar advisories.
In an advisory issued yesterday, the SLMC said both facilities “have exceeded maximum capacity and admitting more COVID-19 patients will affect our ability to deliver the critical level of care and attention patients need at this time.”
“While it is our desire to extend quality healthcare to every patient, we can only do so much at this point,” SLMC added.
The SLMC said the health conditions of its non-COVID patients could not be compromised.
The hospital management said 48 patients found positive for COVID-19 are being treated at St. Luke’s Quezon City and BGC.
According to the SLMC, 592 of its frontline healthcare workers are undergoing quarantine.
The management clarified they would still provide outpatient services for suspected COVID-19 carriers and other patients around the clock.
MMC said it has reached its threshold in its ability to respond to more COVID-19 patients.
“We can no longer extend the same degree of care and attention for any additional admission for COVID-19 cases,” medical director Saturnine Javier said in a statement.
MMC is currently attending to about 70 patients, about 15 percent of whom are in the intensive care unit, including some of its frontliners.
The Medical City meanwhile said it has 64 PUIs and 18 COVID-19 positive patients, as 137 of its frontrunners are under quarantine.
OB-gyne catches virus
A 42-year-old obstetrics-gynecologist of St. Luke’s confirmed yesterday that she tested positive for COVID-19.
In her Facebook page, Grace Caras-Torres identified herself as Patient No. 194.
She admitted being scared about her condition, having a four-year-old child and elderly parents whom she could have exposed to the virus.
“I am PH194. I want this to come directly from me, not from gossips. I did not expect that I will be infected,” she said.
Based on the Department of Health (DOH) tracker, Torres was found infected with the virus at the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine on March 18.
A resident of Quezon City, Torres recently traveled to Japan.
The doctor said she initially thought she was infected with chikungunya as she manifested fever, headache, body pains and loss of appetite.
Tolentino urges DOH: Deploy medical graduates
Amid the spikes in COVID-19 cases, Sen. Francis Tolentino urged the DOH to deploy unlicensed medical school graduates to government hospitals to augment frontliners in the fight against the viral disease.
Tolentino made the appeal after the DOH sought the help of volunteer doctors and nurses as the national government set up more referral hospitals to admit COVID-19 patients.
Aside from allowing medical graduates to serve pending their licenses, Tolentino asked the local government units to grant them honorarium and allowances.
He said around 1,524 aspiring doctors took the Physician Licensure Examination recently.
Ang Nars president Lea Paquiz said several nurses are undergoing quarantine after developing symptoms following exposure to COVID infected patients. – With Rudy Santos