THE utilization level of Covid-19 beds in the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) is now exhausted due to the surge of admitted patients.
As of October 5, both SPMC's intensive care unit (ICU) and ward beds allotted for Covid-19 patients are already occupied.
Based on the Covid-19 report posted on SPMC's official Facebook page, all 33 ICU beds had been occupied and 208 of the 223 ward beds are also already occupied or a 100 percent and 93.27-percent utilization rate, respectively.
According to SPMC and Department of Health's (DOH) critical utilization rate, an occupancy level that is between 71 and 100 percent is considered a "danger zone" level. An occupancy rate level between 31 to 70 percent is considered a "warning zone," and under "safe zone" when it is from 1 to 30 percent.
Based on the bar graph between September 29 to October 5, the ICU bed occupancy rate started to surge to the 70 percent danger zone level on September 29 until it reached its full occupancy on October 5.
For the ward bed, it started to reach the danger zone level in August, but eventually lowered down to a "warning" zone in the following days. However, it went back to the danger zone level beginning September 11 and it surged further on September 24 and had continued to increase until October 5.
Meanwhile, based on the Covid-19 case trend between September 22 to October 5, active cases in the region had since surged, where it breached the 600-mark on October 3. It is, by far, the highest number of Covid-19 active cases since the pandemic hit the region in March this year.
Total cases of the region as of Monday, October 5 is at 3,290.
SPMC officer-in-charge Dr. Ricardo Audan told VoxPop Davao in a phone interview on Tuesday, October 6, that they are still continuing to scout for more beds to cater to the rising number of Covid-19 patients being admitted to the hospital.
Audan said that on Tuesday, they converted the old orthopedic ward with 20 beds as a Covid-19 isolation ward.
Despite this, he admitted that they are still short in manpower.
Recently, 22 nurses from the Philippine National Police were deployed to assist them, but still, the number is still not enough.
"We can provide beds, but we are lacking staff. In need mi og nurses," the SPMC official said.
Audan attributed the surge of Covid-19 patients to "uncoordinated referrals" from different areas outside the city.
According to him, this is also one of the reasons why Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio issued Executive Order (EO) 53 on September 25, requiring Covid-19 testing for patients referred to any hospitals in the city and for other purposes.
"Nakabutang man gud didtoa nga when you have to transfer the patient, it must be coordinated, meaning dapat tawagan mi and dapat they should know our current bed occupancy here," Audan said.
According to SPMC's data, they have 35 percent uncoordinated Covid-19 patients admitted to their hospital, which is attributed to the surge of admitted patients.
DOH-Davao Assistant Director Lenny Joy Rivera said they are already forming a Covid-19 surge capacity plan, following the ward beds for Covid-19 patients in Davao Region already reaching the "danger zone."
As of September 27, a total of 71.79 percent of the 78 Covid-19 ward beds had been occupied.
"We're trying to operate a one-hospital command. Tinitingnan po natin, involved po lahat ng public and private hospitals (all public and private hospitals are involved), and we're trying to implement the 30 to 50 percent Covid-bed, especially to the designated Covid-19 hospitals, na mabigay nila 'yung (that they will be able to give their) 30 percent of the hospital bed intended for Covid-19 lang," Rivera said in a virtual presser on Friday, October 2.
SPMC and Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City, Davao del Norte are the only designated Covid-19 referral hospitals in the region.
However, the Davao Medical School Foundation, Davao Doctors Hospital (DDH), and the Metro Davao Medical and Research Center are currently being tapped as Davao City's reserved hospital.
Audan said from time to time, they are transferring patients from SPMC to DDH to exhaust the former's bed capacity.
Another factor Audan cited for the surge of patients admitted in SPMC is due to the lowering of the restrictions imposed in the city since it shifted to modified general community quarantine, resulting in some to neglect the minimum health standards.
Overall, he said that SPMC is still capable of admitting patients, and that they are in close coordination with the city's reserved hospitals.
