The city is ready for any surge in the number of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases that may arise after the Yuletide season as there will be expected series of discharges from the isolation units managed by the city government and the various private and public hospitals.
City Health Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo disclosed that the occupancy rate of existing isolation units in the city is more than 29 percent which is within the safe category while the occupancy of hospitals is now on the warning and critical levels.
At the city’s central isolation unit in the former Sto. Niño Hospital that has a bed capacity of 233, she reported that 78 beds are already occupied, 33 beds are unavailable because of the ongoing renovation while 122 beds are available for occupancy.
In the Baguio Teachers Camp, 61 beds are occupied at the Roxas Hall while 22 beds are unavailable and 33 beds are available for occupancy.
The city health officer claimed that at the 27-bed Magsaysay Hall, 8 are already occupied while 19 beds ready for occupancy.
At the 53-bed V Dorm 3 under the Oplan Kalinga of the national task force, there are 11 occupied beds and 39 beds ready for occupancy, while at the Ferionni Apartments that has a capacity of 60 beds, only 1 is occupied and the rest are unoccupied.
She added that the city has worked out the use of the Laurel 2 Dorm with a bed capacity of 102 for health workers who will be confined in the said facility while on the way to recovery.
On the other hand, Galpo reported that public and private hospitals in the city have available some 232 beds for COVID cases in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act (RA) 11494, or the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act, mandating government and private hospitals to designate 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively of their hospital beds for COVID cases.
In terms of ward beds, the medical officer revealed that only 3 beds of the allocated 78 beds are occupied, representing 3.82 percent occupancy.
Of the 124 isolation beds committed by the different government and private hospitals, 109 beds are already occupied representing 87.90 percent occupancy rate.
For intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 20 beds of the 29 allocated beds have already been occupied representing 68.96 percent occupancy rate.
In terms of the 18 mechanical ventilators available in the private and government hospitals, 10 are already being utilized by confined COVID patients that represents 55.55 percent utilization rate.
Aside from the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) that committed the available beds, private hospitals which also made some of their beds available for COVID cases include the St. Louis University Hospital of the Sacred Heart, Pines City Doctors Hospital, Notre Dame de Chartres Hospital and the Baguio Medical Center (BGHMC). By Dexter A. See
