Dr. Jose Rodriguez Memorial Hospital or Tala Hospital in Caloocan City is preparing for the ever-increasing number of COVID patients brought to their facility.
The number of COVID patients confined in the hospital has doubled, although their COVID bed capacity is still far from being filled.
As of 6 a.m. this Thursday, the total number of patients with COVID had reached 187.
According to Dr. Alfonso “Fritz” Famaran, medical chief of Tala Hospital, it has more than doubled compared to just over 50 COVID patients in recent days.
Famaran admitted an increase in the number of their COVID patients but said there had been no COVID surge yet.
“Doon nga tayo nagkakaiba ng definition, bale ang medical surge kasi kung yung hospital ay kinakaya ang dami ng pasyenteng pumupunta sa kanya…walang surge yun. Kung yung isang institusyon hindi na kaya yung dami ng pasyenteng pumupunta sa kanya may surge yun,” he said.
But if the doctors of Tala Hospital are also asked, the surge of COVID patients is already happening.
Dr. Dan Erico Gutierrez said they are already feeling the “surge” in the number of their patients.
Number of COVID patients at Tala Hospital increasing
“Talagang may surge…actually we started our duty we had a total of I think around 50 patients admitted at the COVID ward, so far ngayon pumapalo na kami ngayon nasa around 120s…130s,” he said.
This is also the story of Dr. Bourdz Galvez. Some of their patients are from the provinces, he said.
“Talagang ngayon po nakikita natin yung surge talaga ng dami ng COVID patients, in a few days lang po sobrang dami ng case na nirerefer sa amin from all around Metro Manila, Batangas, Laguna…iba-ibang lugar dito po sila dinadala lahat,” he said.
Famaran clarified that they are still far from the COVID surge because the total bed capacity of the hospital for COVID patients is 520, so they can still handle the number of their patients today.
Dr. Gutierrez and Dr. Galvez admitted that more than a year of fighting against COVID is exhausting.
Visit our Facebook page for more news updates.