While most individuals will observe April 9, 2020 at home, some workers, especially frontliners, will continue to work throughout this double holiday in the Philippines. | file photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has urged hospital chiefs and workers in the province to avoid referring patients to Cebu City hospitals.
Report from Capitol-run Sugbo News stated that Garcia has met with doctors from the Cebu Provincial Hospital in Bogo City last May 22 to discuss issues concerning the ‘rising number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients of the province who were recently admitted in hospitals at the capital’.
Read more: COVID-19 not as deadly as projected — Cebu gov
Among the recommendations that came up during the meeting were for provincial hospitals to keep the patients from being transferred to hospitals in Cebu City, and to ramp up their capacities to do minor operations and cesarean delivery.
“Ang referral kay kadtong di nato makaya. Ang kaluy-an nako ang pobre dad-on diri (Cebu City) unya magka Covid, three times ang bayranan,” Garcia was quoted as saying.
(Only those whose conditions needed further assistance should be referred to Cebu City. I’m concerned that the poor from the province will be brought to Cebu City and get infected with COVID, they will have to pay three times.)
In recent weeks, new COVID-19 cases reported in Cebu Province happened to be expecting mothers and newly born infants in some government hospitals based in Cebu City.
READ MORE: Another infant with COVID-19 in Cebu passes away
The most recent one is a newborn whose address is at Samboan, a fifth-class municipality located 150 kilometers southwest of Cebu City. The infant’s mother recently gave birth to her at Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) and was previously confirmed to have COVID-19.
VSMMC, where several COVID-19 patients in Cebu are admitted, has earlier denied cross-infection between pregnant mothers and hospital staff in their hospital premises.
READ MORE: VSMMC denies cross-infection among expectant mothers
Garcia was also reported as asking hospital chiefs to help patients in boosting their immune system through ‘the health regimen promoted by the Cebu Provincial government’.
As of May 23, Cebu province has tallied a total of 105 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 16 deaths and 16 recoveries. /dbs