Baguio hospitals reach full occupancy
Public and private hospitals in the city already reached their maximum capacity after the hospital critical care utilization rate was pegged at 100.52 percent.
City Health Services Officer Dr. Rowena Galpo disclosed that the occupancy of the private and public hospitals have already exceeded the 979 authorized bed capacity having reported a 100.52 percent hospital critical utilization rate because of the ongoing surge in Corona Virus Disease (COVID) 2019 cases triggered by the presence of the more infectious Delta variant.
Of the public and private hospitals in the city, Baguio Medical Center, which has an authorized bed capacity of 24, registered a hospital critical care utilization rate of 150 percent followed by Pines City Doctors hospital with an authorized bed capacity of 110 reported 111.76 percent utilization rate, Saint Louis University (SLU) Hospital of the Sacred heart with an authorized bed capacity of 120 recorded a 106.7 percent utilization rate, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) with an authorized bed capacity of 600 reported a 106.38 percent utilization rate and Notre Dame de chartres hospital with an authorized bed capacity of 125 recorded 100 percent utilization rate.
In terms of isolation beds in the said hospitals, the occupancy is 126/131 or 96.18 percent occupancy while wards had an occupancy of 191/184 or 103.8 percent occupancy. Intensive care unit (ICU) beds recorded a 100 percent occupancy where all the available 68 beds are occupied while overall bed occupancy is 100.52 percent occupied or 385/383.
For mechanical ventilators, the occupancy rate is 100 percent as all the available 54 mechanical ventilators are already occupied to date.
On the other hand, Galpo claimed that the overall occupancy rate of the existing quarantine and isolation centers in the city is approximately 61.09 percent where 562 of the920 available beds are occupied.
Magsaysay hall of the Baguio Teachers Camp reported a 100 percent occupancy rate where all the available 10 beds were filled up followed by the Baguio City Community Isolation Unit at the former Sto. Nin֮o, which has a bed capacity of 350, registered a 68 percent occupancy rate; |Roxas hall and Romulo halls of the Baguio Teachers Camp, which have a bed capacity of 417, reported a 62.35 occupancy rate, Lurel dorm 2, which is a bed capacity of 101, recorded a 40.6 percent occupancy rate; central triage quarantine facility with a 12-bed capacity registered 33.33 percent occupancy and Ferioni apartments with a 30-bed capacity reported a 30 percent occupancy rate.
Earlier, the Laurel dorm has been designated by the local government as an exclusive isolation facility for health workers but it can also accommodate returning Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who will be required to undergo quarantine.
At present, the local government is speeding up the expansion of the Baguio City Community Isolation Unit from its current capacity of 350 beds to around 500 to be able to cater to the isolation requirements of COVID-19 patients, especially that the facility had been identified as not only a step down but also a step up and staging area for COVID-19 patients awaiting their turn to be accommodated in various hospitals in the city. – Dexter A. See
