510 Tala Hospital workers under isolation

MANILA, Philippines — Amid a shortage of healthcare workers, the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Caloocan, popularly known as Tala Hospital, remains fully operational.

At a public briefing yesterday, hospital director Dr. Alfonso Victorino Famaran Jr. reported that 510 of 1,300 health personnel of the facility are under home quarantine.

Famaran said the hospital received over 200 manpower augmentation from the Department of Health (DOH) and Philippine National Police General Hospital.

According to Famaran, 99.2 percent of the hospital’s health personnel are either fully or partially vaccinated. Some have received booster shots.

Famaran backed the DOH’s policy, which shortened the quarantine period for fully vaccinated health workers so that they could immediately go back to work.

He said 53 percent of the hospital’s COVID-19 beds are occupied by patients with mild symptoms.

Of the 274 patients admitted in the hospital, critical and severe cases of COVID-19 comprised three percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

More than half or 55 percent of the patients at the Tala Hospital are unvaccinated while 43 percent are fully vaccinated.

Famaran said he sees no need to upgrade the alert level status in Metro Manila as long as health protocols are strictly implemented.