CEBU, Philippines — The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center said that the COVID-19 patient from Liloan town who had given birth in the hospital may have contacted the virus prior to the visit in their facility.
Dr. Gerardo M. Aquino III, chief of the hospital, explained that all expectant mothers who are admitted to the facility for delivery as per protocol are swabbed for SARS-CoV-2 or the virus that causes the coronavirus disease.
The 38-year-old patient from Liloan is among the 139 related cases under the VSMMC Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology from May 1 to 14. Of the 139, 87 tested negative for COVID-19.
Aquino, in the statement, pointed out that because the pregnant women who show no symptoms of COVID-19 have only been intercepted at the facility, they could have contracted the virus prior to their admission in VSMMC.
“This implies that they may have contracted the virus prior to seeking perinatal care at our facility. This also supports epidemiological observations that COVID-19 has indeed made its way in our communities in Cebu and only further testing and mapping of cases can tell the extent of its spreading among us,” the statement read.
VSMMC also urged pregnant women to go to local health centers, licensed birthing centers and lying-ins unless higher medical attention is needed.
VSMMC is a national sublaboratory for COVID-19 in the Visayas and continues to take in severe and critical cases of the coronavirus disease.
Liloan Mayor Christina Frasco on May 17 announced on Facebook that based on the May 16 swab results, that the local government unit recorded its first case of COVID-19 -- a woman who had just given birth in VSMMC.
In her post, she added that contact-tracing was immediately conducted and both the patient and her baby were in good condition. They have also been put in isolation together with the patient’s husband in VSMMC.
Apart from this, three women from the province who have just recently given birth have also tested positive for COVID-19. This was announced by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia in her virtual press briefing yesterday, May 18.
Two of them gave birth in the Talisay District Hospital. One of the two is from Samboan who was swabbed in the facility last May 13 and the other is a 37-year-old from Laray, San Roque, Talisay City who gave birth last May 1.
One woman from Badian who had just given birth also tested positive for COVID-19 although there were no additional details as of press time yet.
According to Frasco, the patient from Liloan got past the border checkpoints three times prior to her birth – first, on May 8 to fill in her Social Amelioration Program Form in Cebu City, and then on May 9 to claim her SAP allowance. The patient also visited Perpetual Succour Hospital for prenatal checkup on May 13. JMD (FREEMAN)