By ANALOU DE VERA
The Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) in Quezon City said their emergency room has already reached full capacity amid the rise in COVID-19 cases.
LCP spokesperson Dr. Norberto Francisco said that they already expanded their emergency room to three rooms just to accommodate more patients.
“Kahapon (April 3) napilitan kaming maglabas ng public advisory na 200 percent of capacity na ‘yung aming emergency room. So, hindi lang puno. Punong-puno. And that is because ‘yung loob ng ospital – puno na rin. In fact, ‘yung ospital, puno na kami for the past two weeks at least,” said Francisco in an interview over radio DZBB yesterday.
“Itong capacity ng emergency room, talagang lumaki na nang lumaki. In fact, nag-expand na kami ng emergency room. Tatlo na ang emergency room ngayon. We are maintaining one for the clean cases, ‘yung mga non-COVID, because Lung Center is still mandated to treat all forms of lung diseases,” he said.
“Ginagawan lang namin ng paraan ‘yung nasa emergency room. Nagdadagdag kami ng mga kama, ng mga stretchers, mga reclining chairs. Siyempre, kasama doon ang mga oxygen supply, IV lines, mga infusion pumps kapag kailangan kasi may mga dumadating na talagang severe and critical,” he added.
The LCP’s COVID-19 wards have also reached full capacity.
“We are currently not accepting walk-in and uncoordinated transfer of COVID-19 patients as well as elective surgical and non-emergency medical non-COVID-19 patients,” the LCP said.