BY JOSEPH PEDRAJAS
The occupancy rate of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)-designated facilities in Sta. Ana Hospital in Manila now stands at only 38 percent after it sent off its highest number of patients who recovered from the disease.
The Manila public information office on Friday said Sta. Ana Hospital’s current occupancy rate is at “all-time low” after it reported 20 recoveries in a single day, its highest since the start of the pandemic.
Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said “this is the result of the continuous service” of the city’s frontliners.
“Nagbunga ang araw-araw nilang sakripisyo matiyak lang ang kaligtasan ng ating mga kababayan during the pandemic,” he said in a statement.
Moreno said this development should serve as inspiration for the local government and its frontliners as they still battle COVID-19.
“We started out with high numbers of active cases… 1,400 for so many weeks. But now we only see more or less 700 cases a day. This means we’re on the right track but we shouldn’t stop. Ibig sabihin nito, lalo nating kailangan palakasin ang ating COVID-19 response,” he saidsaid.
Sta. Ana Hospital director Dr. Grace Padilla said early detection made it easier for the hospital to attend to and treat COVID-19 patients.
“A lot of factors helped us achieve this small victory: early detection through real time testing via cartridge-based RT-PCR laboratory, immediate admission to address the present problems and innovative management in the Sta. Ana Hospital Manila Infectious Disease Center,” Padilla said.
Padilla also announced that a second swab testing laboratory will soon be launched at the hospital, which is expected to increase the capital city’s testing capacity.
“We can perform more or less a thousand tests a day for one machine. Now we have two. If we are able to maximize the capacity of our own molecular laboratory, we may soon be able to provide help even to the national government,” she added.
