GenSan City Hall (PNA GenSan file photo)
GENERAL SANTOS CITY – The seven referral hospitals here for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients have reached “full capacity” as of Sunday noon.
In an advisory, the city government said all available ward and isolation beds allotted for Covid-19 patients in levels II and III hospitals are now 100 percent occupied while intensive care units are over the critical threshold at 89.47 percent.
The seven hospitals are the GenSan Medical Center, General Santos Doctor’s Hospital, Mindanao Medical Center, Sarangani Bay Specialists Medical Center, Socsargen County Hospital, St. Elizabeth Hospital, and the local government-run Dr. Jorge P. Royeca Hospital.
“Everyone should be on guard and ensure that our families are protected,” the advisory said.
Data from the Department of Health said the city has a total of 308 allotted beds for confirmed and probable patients, with 225 in isolation, 60 in wards, and 23 in the ICUs. It has 14 mechanical ventilators.
As of Sunday, 41.67 percent of the mechanical ventilators are in use and 83.33 percent of the admitted patients are positive for Covid-19.
Some 69.18 percent of the admitted patients in the referral hospitals are from the city while the rest are from neighboring areas in Region 12, which is also grappling with a spike in cases.
Dr. Ryan Aplicador, deputy incident commander of the City Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases, raised concerns on Saturday over the latest spike in locally transmitted cases.
He said the occupancy rate in local hospitals was only around 20 percent in early April but increased to 50 percent toward the end of the month as new cases surged.
Aplicador assured that the local government is continually addressing the situation while also balancing the need to keep the city’s economy afloat.
“It is important for everyone to continually follow the health protocols to help contain the spread of Covid-19,” he said in a radio interview.
The active cases in the city, as of Saturday night, increased to 533, the highest since last year, with 200 new infections in the last three days based on a report from the City Health Office (CHO).
The confirmed Covid-19 cases since March 2020 already reached a total of 3,233, with 108 deaths and 2,582 recoveries.
CHO said 91 of the patients are admitted in the seven referral hospitals while the rest are under close observation in isolation and temporary treatment and monitoring facilities. (PNA)
