Hospitals are appealing for an additional nurse to serve amid the growing number of COVID-19 victims.
In an interview with TeleRadyo, Philippine Hospital Association President Jaime Almora said that apart from the shortage of beds for COVID-19 patients, there is also a shortage of nurses to take care of patients.
According to Almora, nurses can be hired from the police or military, or call centers because some nurses choose to work there.
“Pagod na ang mga nurse. Talagang kulang-kulang ang mga nurse. Kaya kailangan na talaga ng reinforcement… na manggagaling sa military saka police, kasi nasa kanila na ‘yong karamihan ng nurses namin. Nasa kanila na dahil malaki ang suweldo doon,” said Almora.
There is also a shortage of health workers at the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), which is one of the COVID-19 referral facilities in Metro Manila and now has 177 COVID-19 patients admitted.
Aside from other health workers getting sick, doctors and nurses are also tired, said PGH Spokesperson Jonas del Rosario.
So he said the hospital is working on ways to address the shortage of health workers.
Some hospitals request for more health workers
“Kinakapos po. Ang ginagawa po ngayon ay nililipat na naman po namin ‘yong mga tao namin from the non-COVID part of the hospital, na ilagay sa COVID. So, dina-downscale na naman po namin ‘yung non-COVID operations,” said Del Rosario.
According to Del Rosario, PGH has even opened a ward to add more than 30 beds for COVID-19 patients.
The Lung Center of the Philippines in Quezon City has requested the Department of Health (DOH) for an emergency augmentation or additional staff due to the alleged increase in COVID-19 patients.
According to Lung Center Spokesperson Norberto Francisco, they requested 30 additional nurses from the DOH.
He said the hospital also takes emergency job orders because they feel sorry for their health workers.
Today, more than 90 percent of the hospital’s bed capacity is occupied, and even the intensive care unit (ICU) is already full of patients with COVID-19.
According to the latest DOH data, the utilization rate of ICU beds in Metro Manila has reached 70.3 percent.
The Cordillera Administrative Region has the highest occupancy rate of ICU beds, at 73.6 percent.