DESPITE having a 400-bed capacity, the Southern Philippine Medical Center–Department of Pediatrics (SPMC-DP), is still overcrowded by almost twice its capacity.
Speaking during the Kapehan sa Dabaw on Monday, November 13, at The Annex of SM City Davao, SPMC Department of Pediatrics chief Dr. Hasmina Chio said that they are forced to make two children share one bed to cater to the influx of patients.
As a government hospital, they are not allowed to refuse patients, and so they make do of what they have.
“It’s beyond our control so we make use of what we have,” she said.
SPMC is the most sought-after public medical center in Mindanao, it being the biggest government health facility in the country with some 1,500 bed capacity.
Patients come from all over the island.
She added that they usually cater to about 10,000 patients a month, 98 percent of whom come from the poor and marginalized sector of the community.