Hospitals filling up with patients...

[GeoffH]

This announcement came up in my Facebook news feed because it is the Hospital where I normally go to see the Doctors for various medical conditions I have.

It is large and fairly modern and I've never had any serious problems with the service there.

If this large private (and mostly too expensive for the locals) hospital is at capacity then the public hospitals are likely to be as bad if not worse 

 

 

 

[Mike J]

Forum members may have already read this article from a few days ago.   If you go to the URL you will see picture of oxygen tanks sitting beside the cars parked in the street.

https://ph.news.yahoo.com/cebu-hospitals-overwhelmed-photos-cars-120032716.html  

Cebu City’s hospitals are overwhelmed and “full to the brim,” owing to a surge of Covid-19 cases. This was confirmed last week by Dr. Peter Mancao, deputy chief of the city’s vaccine task force, in a press briefing on July 28.

But if Cebuanos—or anyone in the country at all—needed the point to be driven home further, photos of patients spilling out into the street have gone viral over social media.

The photos taken outside Cebu’s Chong Hua Hospital show a line of ambulances parked around the hospital, along with private cars that seem to be doubling as hospital beds, with oxygen tanks hooked up. Patients are also seen on folding cots on the outside walkways, some of them requiring oxygen.

“Our three major hospitals [Chong Hua Hospital, Perpetual Succour Hospital, and Cebu Doctors’ Hospital], their ambulance responders, they won’t take calls anymore,” Mancao was reported as saying by the Manila Bulletin following his press briefing.

Local newspaper Sunstar Cebu confirmed that there were 31 patients outside the hospital awaiting admission. Councilor David Tumulak told Sunstar that at least two of the vehicles have been parked outside Chong Hua since Friday, July 30.

 

[GeoffH]

5 minutes ago, Mike J said:

Councilor David Tumulak told Sunstar that at least two of the vehicles have been parked outside Chong Hua since Friday, July 30.

And this will just be the tip of the iceberg, few Filipino families can even afford a car to wait in outside the over hospital for a bed 

[Heeb]

3 weeks ago I came down with a very high fever and vomiting, on the second night I got up to go to the CR and felt something on the inside of my leg. I turned on the light to see what was going on and I have red streaks going from my lower shin to my crotch, I already known it’s not good because I’ve had cellulitis in the navy before. I went to the emergency room at the hospital on a Sunday morning and there was no doctor but they sent me away with a prescription for antibiotics. I knew in my mind it wasn’t going to do the trick but I tried for 5 days and it managed to stop the fever and further spread. Went back on the Friday and saw a doctor and she said immediately said “staph infection” and we need to admit you and start IV antibiotics. Well they didn’t have any rooms available and I was 10th on the waiting list, so I went in every day at 6am and 6pm for 7 days to the ER ward and they gave me an IV drip for a couple hours, the place was packed and I witnessed a man die from a heart attack in the bed next to me with his daughters watching, they gave him CPR for an hour before a doctor showed up to pronounce him dead, very sad. I’m back on oral antibiotics now and feeling good, all this trouble from a small open sore. Definitely an eye opener. The other hospital in town has a ward set up outside. 

Edited August 4, 2021 by Heeb

[Joey G]

ER's have always been a problem in Eastern Samar... so few doctors (let a alone a regular family doctor) that everyone uses the ER for any medical issue they have.  The line forms daily and the range is everything from arthritis to a stroke. I've often contemplated that if I ever got sick enough requiring a trip to the ER, I might be better off rushing to the airport and taking the next flight out (probably not an easy option if there today)

Heeb... you're one lucky dude... even in a US hospital staph can get out of control fast and often requires surgery when it's a resistant strain... happening more often these days. Glad you're doing better 

 

[GeoffH]

I had a staph infection on my lower leg from a small cut... the first oral anti-biotic they gave me did nothing, the second reduced the symptoms but it came back.

The Doctor rang a central office to get permission to prescribe a drug that isn't used much (they're trying to keep it for drug resistent infections).

I was told if this one didn't work I'd be in hospital on an IV with drugs being pumped into me for a while.

Once the streaks (along the blood vessels) appeared it got quite painful and I imagine yours was worse.

 

Glad to hear that you're on the mend but it just goes to show that high levels of Covid cases effects health care for us even if we don't get sick from Covid.

[OnMyWay]

@Heeb  Glad you are healing up!  I read your story and immediately put some anti-bac cream on some scrapes I got on my toes a few days ago!

Looks like Baypointe ER.  Spent a few hours there a few months back and it was quiet then.

Next time, take the one hour drive to Medical City Clark.  Not sure about the room situation now, but you will receive a much higher level of care there then anywhere in our area.

[GeoffH]

Just an update; this CNA article is saying that one fith of Philippines hospitals are at critical levels of occupancy (due to Covid cases) and I suspect this will get worse before it gets better 

 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/philippines-covid-19-hospitals-full-capacity-lockdown-delta-variant-surge-2101516

[Dave Hounddriver]

5 minutes ago, GeoffH said:

one fith of Philippines hospitals are at critical levels of occupancy

Only one fifth?  On the surface that does not sound so bad.  I thought it was more than that.

[GeoffH]

2 hours ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

Only one fifth?  On the surface that does not sound so bad.  I thought it was more than that.

I'm guessing that they're not taking into account bed numbers; that they're counting tertiary hospitals with 500-1000 beds and small primary care centers with 50-100 beds which have no ICU both as '1 hospital'. 

The big tertiary care hospitals would be lucky to make up a fith of the hospitals in the Philippines.

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by GeoffH