DOH, hospitals to discuss bed shortage for dengue patients

Health authorities will meet with representatives of private hospitals because state medical facilities are running out of rooms to accommodate dengue patients. Department of Health's National Epidemiology Center head Dr. Eric Tayag on Friday announced the plan after receiving reports some government hospitals were forced to "turn away" dengue patients due to lack of beds. "Titingnan namin baka mapulong ang mga director ng hospitals, kasama ang kinatawan ng pribadong hospital para ilatag ang pinakamainam na solution (I hope to meet with the directors of government hospitals and representatives of private hospitals. We will explore ways to address the problem)," Tayag said in an interview on dzBB radio. He cited an earlier estimate that dengue cases nationwide could hit 80,000 before yearend. Tayag said that while the government has enough medicines, it may lack facilities such as hospital beds. Earlier, a report by dzBB's Sam Nielsen indicated some government hospitals could no longer admit dengue patients for confinement. "Di pa sigurado (ang magpa-confine) kasi puno na raw (They could not guarantee us confinement because they were full)," said "Geronima," a grandmother who brought a four-year-old girl to Amang Rodriguez Medical Center in Rizal. The report said the Amang Rodriguez Medical Center’s facility for dengue patients was congested, having 63 patients as of Friday when its capacity was 45. As many as four patients had to share one bed in the hospital, it added. On the other hand, the Rizal Medical Center was similarly congested, the report also said. ‘Unprepared’ for dengue Despite having a unit on health care, the Catholic Church admitted it was caught unprepared by the outbreak of dengue in several parts of the country. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines said neither it nor local parishes had a special campaign against dengue. “We don’t have a special campaign against it," said CBCP Commission on Health Care executive secretary Fr. Luke Moortgat, in an article on the Union of Catholic Asian News website. At the parish level, several priests had admitted they lacked a program to stop dengue. Father Aristeo de Leon, from Epiphany of the Lord parish in Caloocan City, said they are trying to draw up disease prevention measures now. “We don’t have figures," he said, adding the parish’s social services and development ministry is working on the disease prevention measures. “We don’t have anything in place," added Rhea dela Cruz of San Isidro Labrador parish in Quezon City, where at least 10 villages have announced outbreaks of the disease. In badly affected Palo archdiocese in Leyte province, archdiocesan spokesman Father Amadeo Alvero called on people to comply with the government’s advice. Earlier, the Health department said dengue cases could reach a record 80,000 this year. From January to July, the DOH recorded 40,648 cases – up 48 percent from same period last year. Several provinces have reported deaths from the disease, with provinces like Iloilo having been declared under state of calamity. — LBG, GMANews.TV