PGH emergency room exceeds capacity

MANILA, Philippines, August 6 ------ The Department of Health is asking people needing medical attention to proceed to other DOH hospitals as the Philippine General Hospital (PGH)’s emergency room has exceeded its capacity.

Health Secretary Ted Herbosa said 20 DOH-run hospitals in Metro Manila are ready to attend to patients while the PGH’s emergency room is full. “This is just temporary,” Herbosa said. “All hospitals, clinics, ambulances and doctors are advised to refrain from bringing new patients to PGH.”

In Quezon City, among the public hospitals under DOH supervision are East Avenue Medical Center, National Children’s Hospital, Philippine Orthopedic Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, Lung Center of the Philippines, National Kidney and Transplant Institute, Philippine Heart Center and Philippine Children’s Medical Center.

Patients can also go to the Jose Fabella Memorial Hospital, Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center, San Lazaro Hospital and Tondo Medical Center in Manila. The DOH advised the public to call the Metro Manila Center for Health Development’s mobile number 0956-1753710 or 0920-2511800 for assistance. The PGH has announced that its emergency room had reached its capacity due to a surge of patients. But in a post on social media, the PGH stressed, “Our emergency room remains open for patients in critical condition.”

As of Monday night, the PGH said 300 adult and pediatric patients had been admitted in the emergency room, which is designed to accommodate only 70 patients. PGH head chaplain Fr. Marlito Ocon said the hospital had activated “Code Triage” because of overcapacity. He said the “zero balance” billing program of the DOH would not solve the health care problems, such as the lack of facilities and medical staff in government hospitals.

Source: philstar.com