VSMMC’s handling of patient criticized

The Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC) is investigating the way its staff handled a suspected Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona virus (MERS-CoV) patient who arrived from South Korea on March 9.

The patient’s friend, a  23-year-old  research scientist, posted in his Facebook account that they were not properly handled by the hospital staff.

Nonoy Mongaya, VSMMC information officer, told Cebu Daily News that the matter is now being investigated by the hospital’s Infection Control Committee.

The research scientist who asked not to be named said that he and his 21-year-old friend arrived at the  Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) on March 9 at 1:50 a.m. from a week-long trip to Korea.

The post had 471 likes and 179 shares.

He said they were stopped by personnel of the immigration bureau after his friend registered a 38.7°C body temperature.

“The medical officer concluded it wasn’t a threat. They were confident enough to believe it wasn’t MERS so they released us but asked us to contact DOH (Department of Health) immediately if there were any “weird” symptoms,” the post stated.

He also claimed that the immigration officers were joking in front of them saying they needed to disinfect themselves with alcohol to avoid getting the disease.

To ensure his friend was truly free of MERS-CoV, they both went to Chong Hua Hospital where they  were referred to VSMMC as part of DOH protocol.

They arrived at VSMMC at 3 a.m.

VSMMC is the region’s referral hospital  for possible MERS-CoV cases. The hospital is equipped to confirm the presence of the  virus after administering swab and nasal tests.

NO COORDINATION

“SOTTO DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO when we got there. There were no protocols, there was no clear coordination, and there were people literally bleeding in the ER who wasn’t attended to. They kept on asking us unnecessary questions and they were still checking (his friend’s) vitals even if we already gave them Chong Hua’s record,” he added.

He said the nurses lacked propriety, quoting them as saying: “Asa na man tong suspected MERS patient? Naa daw diri sa ER (Where is the MERS patient)?”

In a phone interview, the 23-year-old research scientist said he has nothing against the nurses.

“I know that they are just following orders. But my point is I am raising concern about the kind of system,” he added.

His friend was brought to a room on a wheelchair. The room was air-conditioned and had a comfort room and adequate lighting.

“But the place was deserted. No nurses. No people. It was scary. We were left there like criminals in a prison cell,” he added.

The front door was locked so they couldn’t  leave the area.

At 4 a.m.,  no doctor had yet seen to his friend’s condition despite repeated requests for medical attention for his friend’s persistent fever.

“He had a very high fever but up to that point, he still wasn’t getting anything to relieve his pain and discomfort,” the research scientist said.

They asked for Paracetamol and water. They also asked the attending personnel if they could go back to Chong Hua but were informed they needed  to be cleared by VSMMC.

“We followed their questionable protocol and system. We were experiencing DOH’s care. The average Philippine healthcare treatment,” he added on his post.
When the doctor and two nurses arrived at 4:30 a.m.,  they had  on   white suits, foot mops, head covers, latex gloves, two face masks and protective goggles.

NOT MERS-COV

The doctor assured them  it was not MERS, saying  he had handled many suspected MERS-CoV cases.

His friend underwent nasal and swab testing and was given  paracetamol.

“In all fairness, they gave us food and water,” he told CDN.

At 9:27 a.m., they asked if they could have the lab test results but were told the findings would  be out later  that afternoon.

The nurse also told them they could not stay in one room because it is a violation of DOH protocol. The staff then prepared three other rooms.

He questioned why they were only informed that they had to be in separate rooms after five hours of staying together in one room.

“All three had no air-conditioning, unclean, poor ventilation, dirty sheets. Room 3 smelled really bad like something died in there,” the research scientist said.

“Just imagine how lonely, hot, humid and scared we felt in our individual rooms,” he added.

The results, released at 4 p.m., were negative and they were cleared at 5 p.m. of the same day.