As General Santos hospitals get overwhelmed, workers make do with thinning supplies

As General Santos City’s hospitals get overwhelmed by the number of patients and sick people waiting for admission, worn-out physicians and health workers find themselves trying to make do with thinning medical supplies to save lives.

At the Socsargen County Hospital, the number of people seeking to be admitted increased six times in just a matter of two weeks.

“There were only about seven people making reservations two weeks ago. Last week, there were already 35 who called for reservations. Early this week, there were 46. Mukhang dumadami talaga (It looks like the numbers are going up). I think we need to do something already,” Ronald Velasquez, a member of the hospital’s board of directors, said on Friday, September 10.

Velasquez said at least 70 people were queueing outside on Friday morning alone, hoping to get some of the hospital beds. Most of them, he said, were either partially vaccinated or have not been inoculated.

The sad part, said Velasquez, is that people were dying while waiting to get admitted.

He said his friend owas rushed to the hospital on Thursday night, September 9, because his oxygen dropped to a critical level. His friend was No. 6 on the waiting list and was brought home where he and his family opted to wait. He died early Friday morning, September 10.

Dr. Ryan Aplicador, head of the city government-owned hospital in General Santos City, said priority numbers do not even assure immediate admission whenever there are vacancies.

“We have to check first. When the vacancy is in the isolation ward for patients with moderate conditions, someone with a severe case cannot get it,” Aplicador said.

Aside from space problems, General Santos’ hospitals also have to deal with the shortage of medical oxygen and other supplies like COVID-19 test kits, equipment, and the lack of frontline health workers, said Antonio Veneracion, chief operating officer of the St. Elizabeth Hospital.

The COVID-19 positivity rate in General Santos City has reached 40% and while the number of coronavirus infections was going up, there has been little or no improvement in the hospital manpower to meet challenges in the worsening situation, Veneracion said.

“The local government must act on the situation with utmost decisiveness to prevent a collapse of the health care system in General Santos,” he said.

General Santos Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Elmer Catulpos proposed that the city government provide subsidies to the city’s hospitals, and find ways to help frontline health workers through incentives while improving their work environment.

“There is this program of the city government which provides loans of up to P50 million to businesses. They can instead use the money to subsidize the hospitals,” Catulpos said. – Rappler.com

Rommel Rebollido is a Mindanao-based journalist and an awardee of the Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship