Provincial, district hospitals have enough beds — Gwen

The Carcar Provincial Hospital in Carcar City is one of the Capitol-run hospitals that run with an actual capacity of 100 beds. (File Photo)

CEBU CITY, Philippines —  Amid the clamor of Metro Cebu hospitals getting “full,” Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said the 12 district and four provincial hospitals managed by the Capitol have more than enough to cater to patients in their jurisdiction.

During her regular press conference on Monday evening, June 15, 2020, Garcia detailed the bed capacity of the provincial and district hospitals emphasizing that the current admissions in these hospitals were still low.

Garcia also said that each of the hospitals had dedicated 120 beds for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases.

Read more: Hospitals in Cebu pledge to add 124 COVID-19 beds

According to the data from the Provincial Health Office, only 32 of these beds are occupied by patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and persons under investigation (PUIs).

The four provincial hospitals are located in Danao City, Bogo City, Carcar City, and Balamban. These hospitals cater to patients in the northern, extreme northern, southern, and western parts of the province, respectively.

All four of these medical facilities have a capacity of up to 100 beds.

The Cebu Provincial Hospital (CPH) in Carcar City has the most vacancy in beds with only 27 percent occupied while three out of the six beds that the CPH Carcar allocated for COVID cases are currently occupied by patients having influenza-like illness (ILI).

The CPH in Danao, however, is 85 percent filled with only the 15 beds allocated for COVID cases that are now vacant.

The CPHs in Bogo City and Balamban, on the other hand, have 37 percent and 55 percent vacancy, respectively.

The bed vacancy count in CPH Bogo includes the six out of ten vacant beds dedicated for COVID cases.

In CPH Balamban, Garcia said the vacancy covered seven COVID-19 beds and one intensive care unit (ICU).

Dr. Jaime Bernadas, regional director of the Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7), confirmed in a statement issued this Monday, June 15, that the COVID-19 pandemic has “highlighted deficiencies of the overall health care capacity of the region.”

Read more: With COVID hospitals ‘full,’ Naga patient awaits transfer

Bernadas has also confirmed the claims spreading in social media that there were patients being declined in hospitals because they were already “full.”

“We have investigated these reports and established that these incidents were true,” Bernadas said./dbs