COTABATO CITY – Some 64 hospital staff of Cotabato Regional and Medical Center (CRMC) are on quarantine over suspicion that coronavirus-19 (Covid-19) could have infected the staff.
Because of this, the management of the hospital had decided to limit admissions for emergencies and life-threatening cases only.
Dr. Helen Yambao, CRMC chief, said the staff workers are now under observation inside the government health facility on suspicion that they have been infected by novel coronavirus while performing their duties.
CRMC is a referral hospital for Covid-19 patients in Region 12 and parts of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in mainland Mindanao.
“Many of our staff have close contact with Covid-19 positive patients, they have to be subjected to rapid tests and quarantined,” Yambao told reporters in an interview Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, Yambao said the hospital has 14 Covid-19 positive patients and 11 suspected Covid-19 patients.
“All the 25 patients are admitted at the hospital’s isolation facility,” she said, adding that all the 14 positive patients are on stable condition.
Yambao said the hospital management decided to suspend operations of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), laboratories, and the Out-Patient Department (OPD) for disinfection.
“For those critically ill, sorry we cannot admit you because our ICU has to be disinfected. Please understand our present situation,” she said, addressing hospitals referring patients to CRMC. -Edwin O. Fernandez
