Davao City temporarily closes 6 isolation facilities

Photo from Davao CIO
Photo from Davao CIO

THE Davao City Health Office (CHO) said it has temporarily closed six isolation facilities intended for confirmed Covid-19 patients due to a low occupancy rate.

CHO Acting Head Dr. Ashley Lopez said in a radio interview on Wednesday, April 14, that from the original 18, the city currently has 12 functional temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) or isolation facilities. This number does not include quarantine and holding facilities.

“We have bed occupancy of 1,200 plus in our TTMFs and as of yesterday (April 13), we had an occupancy rate of 19.5 percent or about 260 isolated cases. That means daghan pa kaayo tag bakante (Occupancy is low),” Lopez said in an interview on 87.5 FM Davao City Disaster Radio.

The health official did not name the TTMFs that have been temporarily closed.

Medical personnel assigned at temporarily closed TTMFs will be transferred to other Covid-19 facilities, he said.

Also, this would give time for the repair and maintenance of some of the TTMFs.

Meanwhile, Lopez said the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) currently has a hospital utilization rate of less than 20 percent.

Out of 380 designated Covid-19 beds, over 100 patients are currently admitted. Of SPMC’s 35 ICU Covid-19 beds, 19 are currently occupied.

“Naa pa silay daghang bakante pero dili lang gyud unta mapuno. That’s why niingon si Mayor [Sara Duterte-Carpio] nga in the meantime, wala pa kaayo tay pasyente, kaya pa nato i-accommodate tanang Covid-19 patients sa SPMC aron ma contain ang tanang Covid-19 patients (There are a lot of available beds but we hope that it won’t be filled. The mayor said all Covid-19 patients will be accommodated at SPMC for now as cases remain low),” Lopez said.

Duterte-Carpio earlier said that different private hospitals decided and agreed during a meeting that they will temporarily stop accepting Covid-19 patients and that all Covid-19 patients will be referred to the SPMC, making it again the lone Covid-19 referral hospital in the city.

The mayor, however, said private hospitals must prepare their facilities and beds in case of a possible surge.

Lopez said designating Covid-19 patients solely to SPMC is advantageous.

"Inkaso naa man jud makasulod na variant among these Covid-19 patients, dali ra ma-contain kay naa ra sila sa isa ka lugar. Maoy ingon ni Mayor. Tama gyud iyang idea nga i-contain ra sa isa ka lugar (What’s the advantage of this? In case there is a new variant among our Covid-19 patients, it would be easier to contain them as they are located in just one place. That’s what the Mayor said. Her idea of containing all Covid-19 patients is right),” he said.

As much as possible, Lopez said all Covid-19 cases, regardless of classification whether mild, moderate, severe, critical will be sent to the SPMC.

At present, three Covid-19 patients are still recovering in private hospitals but are already scheduled to be discharged.

SPMC Chief Dr. Ricardo Audan told SunStar Davao in a phone interview that the hospital is capable enough to be the lone Covid-19 referral in the city as cases remain low.

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