St. Luke's, Makati Med can no longer take in COVID-19 patients
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:02 p.m.) — The Quezon City and Bonifacio Global City, Taguig facilities of St. Luke's Medical Center have both reached their capacities for intensive care beds allocated for coronavirus patients, the hospital said.
In a separate statement, Makati Medical Center said it has reached full capacity "insofar as our capability to handle patients suspected and confirmd to have COVID-19 is concerned."
SLMC management said that "Quezon City (SLMC-QC) and Global City (SLMC-GC) have reached full capacity of allocated COVID-19 intensive care unit (ICU) beds as of today, July 13,"
"In this regard, we request the public to consider bringing critically ill COVID-19 suspects to alternative hospitals so they will receive immediate and utmost care. We will keep everyone updated once we reopen admissions for COVID-19 ICU beds," it added.
MMC said it has, since March, attended to "tens of thousands" of patients suspected of having COVID-19.
It said that it has had to augment its physical and manpower resources to meed demand.
"The COVID-19 zones of MMC, both the regular wards and the Critical Care Units, and especially the Emergency Room, are now full," it also said.
Full capacity last reached in March
READ: St. Luke's no longer accepts COVID-19 patients for confinement after limit reached
This marks the second time this year that the hospitals have made such an announcement after also reaching bed limits in March, a week after the enhanced community quarantine was implemented.
At the earlier stages of the pandemic, a group of private hospitals appealed to the health department to centralize COVID-19 response efforts due to the inadequacy of their current facilities to accommodate all patients.
Makati Medical Center also announced at around the same time that it could no longer take in additional patients.
“The panic is escalating, mortality is increasing, our supplies of [PPE] are running short, our frontline staff are increasingly getting depleted as more of them are quarantined or physically and emotionally exhausted, and a number of our medical colleagues are already hooked to respirators fighting for their lives in various ICUs (intensive care units),” the private hospitals said in a joint statement.
RELATED: FULL TEXT: Appeal of 11 private hospitals to DOH amid COVID-19 crisis
On Monday, though, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that community quarantine classifications may be announced on Wednesday, the day when the existing guidelines lapse, though he added that data has not yet signaled that restrictions in Metro Manila could be loosened.
"Both hospitals remain open to accommodate admissions and treatment of non-COVID-19 cases, including outpatient procedures. We appeal to the public to avoid complacency and strictly adhere to health protocols and preventive measures against COVID-19," the hospital said.
The Philippines is in the middle of the longest quarantine in the world, but the Palace mouthpiece at the same press briefing Monday asserted that COVID-19 can still be under control despite rising number of cases.
— Franco Luna
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