Bacolod City, Negros Occidental— It may sounds inhumane, but at least four hospitals in the capital of Negros Occidental were forced to shut their doors to COVID-19 patients as they’ve reached their maximum bed capacity for COVID cases and due to lack of available healthworkers to attend to new patients. This as the city of Bacolod logged a total of 1,447 active cases, with 105 fresh cases as of yesterday, September 15.
In separate advisories released to the public Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital, Riverside Medical Center, Bacolod Adventist Medical Center and South Bacolod General Hospital said that they cannot entertain to any new admission related to COVID until further noticed.
“As of this time the emergency room and all hospital wards have reached maximum capacity on the allocated beds,” the CLMMRH announced.
It added: “For the first time in the past 18 months of addressing the COVID-19 pandemic, the hospital is highly challenged with the current surge of cases.” The regional hospital which is classified as a tertiary hospital caters not only to Bacolod residents but patients from other towns and cities of the province.
Riverside Medical Center also announced last night that it will no longer admit COVID patients or even those with COVID-like symptoms. But the management said it will continue to extend medical care to patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms if they opt to enroll in the hospital’s COVID Home Care Service.
As this developed, the provincial government said that it will convert a third hospital in south into a COVID-19 designated facility, and is increasing its oxygen production as part of its action plan as it continues to combat the rise of new cases.
Provincial Administrator Rayfrado Diaz said for the first half of this month alone, cases of COVID-19 around the province already reached1,534.
Meanwhile, in Bacolod, City Administration Em Ang, also the executive director of Emergency Operation Center (EOC), said they reopened two more schools as quarantine facility to accommodate more patients in the city. Some of the patients who are suffering mild symptoms are either on home isolation or at the tents set-up outside some of the hospital around the city as they wait for an available room.
