Giant Tent As Hospital

A 100-bed makeshift hospital, including a giant tent, is taking shape in the fire department compound across the quake-damaged Cebu City Medical Center.

“We don’t have a specific date yet, but we will open in November,” said hospital director Dr. Gloria Duterte.

Only out-patient services are being offered for now to fill the big gap left by the closure of the 300-bed CCMCC following the Oct. 15 earthquake.

A 10 x 20 medical tent shipped from Manila by the Philippine National Red Cross was set up in the covered court behind the Bureau of Fire Protection Building in N. Bacalso Avenue.

“This can accommodate around 50 beds. We plan to air-condition the tent,” said Dr. Gloria Duterte, chief of hospital.

She said the tent hall will be used for pediatrics and OB-GYN wards.

With the shutdown of the city hospital, which mostly handles charity cases, indigent patients in Cebu City have no other place to get hospital care without paying a P5,000 deposit required in private facilities.

Another 50 beds in the BFP main building will be used as wards for the medical and surgery patients and intensive care unit (ICU).

LIMITED SERVICES

The lobby will continue to serve as the emergency room and operating room.

Not all services will be restored.

No psychiatric cases and communicable diseases will be accepted, as agreed yesterday in a meeting with City Hall and hospital officials.

“Non-city residents will have to go directly to Sotto,” said Councilor Davd Tumulak after the meeting, referring to the state-run Don Vicente Memorial Medical Center.

Staffers were busy yesterday cleaning up the BFP building and “restructuring” the temporary hospital site, where CCMC staff will operate for an indefinite period.

While Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has ordered the demolition of the 300-bed CCMC after structural engineers said it was “unfit” for occupancy due to earthquake damage, debate continues in the City Council over whether it’s better to spend calamity funds now to retrofit the building and use the hospital for the next 10 years, or to build a modern 1,000-bed hospital, which would cost over P1 billion and take more time to complete.

Funding for a new hospital will depend on national government aid and other sources although a “Piso” donation drive launched by the mayor has drawn P7 million so far in support.

CLEANUP

Staffers were busy cleaning the wards and placing new floor mats when CDN was shown around the renovated facility.

“We really had a lot of cleaning to do. It was very dirty. We repainted the walls white, installed new floor mats and put up wall partitions,” said Fulton Lunod of the CCMC continuous quality improvement unit.

They also have to clean the entire compound which is full of broken beds, tables and chairs, and equipment removed from the old hospital building. These will be taken to a city-owned warehouse in SRP.

For now, emergency cases are received in a limited capacity in the hospital, where security guards are posted.

After treatment, patients are discharged or referred to other hospitals.

No patients are admitted yet.

The chapel which used to serve as a makeshift nursery and pediatrics ward, was empty. There were no more babies in cribs enduring the hot room with no proper ventilation.

More toilets will have to be built since the handful of comfort rooms in the BFP building are not enough.

“For now, we’ll make do with the portalets (portable toilets) given by the city although it’s not really healthy,” said Duterte.

The plan was to resume accepting patients next week in the makeshift hospital but Duterte said it may take longer because of the restructuring work and holidays.

The giant tent had been promised by Richard Gordon, PNRC chairman during his visit there last Saturday.

The tent, shipped from Manila, took four hours to set up in the covered court, where the roof leaks.

“With the tent, the wards there will be cooler since the heat of the sun won’t hit the roof directly, ” said Alvin Santillana, operations head of the city risk reduction management council.

He said Mayor Rama still has to spell out terms of the tent’s use in a memorandum of agreement with the Red Cross.

AMBULANCES

Referring patients who can’t be accommodated in the makeshift CCMC to other hospitals has driven up expenses.

Tumulak, who is in charge of the city’s emergency response units, said the gas consumption alone of city ambulances doubled since the October 15 earthquake.

Ambulances are allocated 150 litters per month.

Tumulak, who organized the Basak Pardo Emergency Response (BPER), said the demand for ambulances will also be high from November to January during the holiday season when they expect cases of illness and firecracker explosions.

For this weekend, the All Souls’ Day and All Saints’ Day holidays, Tumulak said 13 to 14 ambulances will be ready for emergency calls with at least six emergency room nurses from CCMC.

The nurses’ assignment was agreed in a meeting yesterday with hospital chief Duterte.

“Despite what happened to CCMC, the city government can still serve in medical emergencies,” said Tumulak