Davao City hospital needs more nurses

File photo
File photo

THE Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) will be needing at least 40 nurses as it adds more beds to accommodate coronavirus disease (Covid-19) patients in preparation for the potential surge of positive cases.

SPMC officer-in-charge Dr. Ricardo Audan said they have opened the hospital’s old Orthopedics Ward with 22 beds and Ear, Nose, and Throat (ENT) Ward with 14 beds which will need 20 nurses in each ward.

This will beef up SPMC’s existing 211 ward beds and 37 intensive care unit (ICU) beds for Covid-19 patients.

“I already texted Department of Health (DOH) Regional Director [Annabelle] Yumang that we really need nurses na kasi itong inopen namin kahapon, walang staff, wala kaming nurses. In case mag surge talaga kami, we will put the patients to this old Orthopedic and ENT ward (The facilities that we opened do not have nurses yet. We will put patients here in case there is a surge),” he said.

Earlier, the occupancy rate of the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) beds reached between 70 to 80 percent or the warning and critical zone on July 9, 10 and 14.

It later dropped to 70 percent and below beginning July 15 until July 20, with a 50 percent occupancy rate.

As of July 24, Audan reported that there are 157 Covid-19 positive patients in the hospital.

Only 14 of them are in the ICU beds or 37.8 percent of the 37 ICU beds available to cater to critical cases.

Meanwhile, the remaining 143 Covid-19 patients are in non-ICU beds occupying about 67.7 percent of the 211 beds in wards.

Recently, Davao City opened the Dumoy Satellite Facility of the Davao Doctors Hospital as a buffer Covid-19 designated hospital.

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