Aklan provincial hospital eyed as dedicated facility for coronavirus patients

Boy Ryan B. Zabal

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Aklan provincial hospital eyed as dedicated facility for coronavirus patients
Provincial Health Officer I Dr. Cornelio Cuachon, Jr. says that the government-run provincial hospital will be designated to receive, screen and treat coronavirus patients with severe conditions

AKLAN, Philippines – The Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital (DRSTMH) in Kalibo is being eyed as a medical facility dedicated to coronavirus patients in the province of Aklan.

Provincial Health Officer I Dr. Cornelio Cuachon, Jr. said on March 27, Friday that the government-run provincial hospital will be designated to receive, screen and treat coronavirus patients with severe conditions.

“If there would be a surge of COVID-19 patients, the provincial hospital would be used as a dedicated facility for people with coronavirus,” he added.

Cuachon said that private hospitals in Kalibo will allocate 20 percent of their hospital beds to cater to non-coronavirus patients. 

Aside from the existing isolation wards, regular rooms in the Aklan provincial hospital will be converted into coronavirus isolation areas  to accommodate more COVID-19 patients.

All symptomatic persons under monitoring (PUMs) and now classified as mild (persons under investigation) PUIs, who do not need hospitalization, are required to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine at the Aklan training center in Old Buswang, Kalibo.

The training center is designated as a temporary holding facility for mild PUIs.

Cuachon said that hospital attendants, nurses, and doctors on duty in COVID-19 isolation rooms of the Aklan provincial hospital are also quarantined at the Aklan training center.

Aklan Governor Florencio Miraflores stressed that local government units are directed by the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) to identify community quarantine facilities to house PUIs with mild symptoms.

On March 27, PHO-Aklan confirmed 3 coronavirus cases in Aklan. Two men were admitted at the provincial hospital in Kalibo while the other patient is in self-isolation in Aklan training center. All three patients had travel histories to Manila.

The two who were confined in the provincial hospital is a 68-year old from Kalibo and an 81-year-old from Libacao.

The 68-year-old arrived in Aklan on March 6. He felt symptoms on March 14, but only sought medical attention on March 20. He is currently stable.

The 81-year old patient went to Manila on March 10. He started showing symptoms and was admitted to the hospital on March 17, but was discharged on March 21. He is under strict home quarantine.

The third patient, a 37-year- old from Malay, went to Manila on March 7. He experienced mild symptoms on March 10 and was quarantined at the Aklan training center on March 18. –Rappler.com

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