COVID-19 cases overwhelm PGH, St. Luke’s

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine General Hospital shut down its emergency room (ER) as the number of COVID-19 cases in the PGH reached 325 yesterday.

The ER needed to be closed because of COVID-19 patients waiting there for a room, PGH spokesman Jonas del Rosario said in a radio interview.

Del Rosario assured the public that this is only a temporary setup as the hospital seeks to discharge more COVID patients upon their recovery.

He said the ER would still accommodate life-threatening cases.

“We just needed to take a short breather and wait for patients to recover so that others can get in,” Del Rosario said.

He said health workers need to focus on treating patients already confined in the hospital before admitting new COVID cases.

The PGH has exceeded its 300-bed capacity.

“Some patients needed to be at the intensive care unit, some needed rooms. Most of them need oxygen, high flow or ventilator. We cannot stretch our manpower anymore. Going beyond this will put our patients at risk,” Del Rosario said.

The St. Luke’s Medical Center said it could no longer accept COVID-19 patients as SLMC hospitals have reached full capacity.

In a public advisory, the SLMC urged people with COVID-19 symptoms to seek immediate care from other hospitals.

COVID-19 wards and critical care units of St. Luke’s hospitals are running at full capacity.

“We also have patients in critical condition waiting for urgent admission to the emergency rooms,” SLMC said.

St. Luke’s hospitals are located in Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

The Pasay City General Hospital also closed its emergency room yesterday and would no longer accept patients, whether infected with COVID or not.

The public hospital has reached full capacity, according to the city government.

The hospital’s intensive care unit and regular beds allotted for COVID-19 patients have been fully occupied, city hall said.