VSMMC officials deny patient-health worker infection

The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center has two polymerase chain test (PCR) machines crucial in testing for COVID-19. |CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Officials from the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) assured the public that there is no transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) between patients and health care workers in their facility.

This developed after VSMMC announced in its latest hospital statistics that five healthcare workers were placed under quarantine.

However, a VSMMC official told Cebu Daily News Digital that their employees were only exposed to suspected COVID-19 patients confined in their hospital ‘to some degrees’.

The officer, who requested not to disclose his/her identity due to lack of authority to speak about the matter, said that as of Thursday, April 2, 2020, only two of the five healthcare workers remained in quarantine.

“These healthcare workers on quarantine were either exposed to suspected cases or had a travel history to places with local transmission prior to community quarantine and happened to develop influenza-like symptoms,” the source said.

“Hence, the Infection Control Committee recommended for them home quarantine based on the World Health Organization Risk Assessment Tool,” the official added.

On Thursday, April 2, 2020, VSMMC disclosed in their hospital statistics that five of their healthcare workers were placed under quarantine.

They also revealed that two COVID-19 positive patients are admitted in their facility.

“The healthcare workers on quarantine were not the ones directly caring for our confirmed COVID-19 cases,” the hospital official clarified./rcg