Several hospitals in Metro Manila said Monday their intensive care units (ICUs) were already fully occupied due to the surge of COVID-19 patients, one year after the national government placed Luzon under lockdown.
St. Luke's Medical Center in Taguig is "completely full," Dr. Benjamin Campomanes, its chief medical officer, said in an interview with TeleRadyo.
"In Global City, at least 33 patients are waiting in the emergency room to get a COVID room,” he said.
The Quezon City General Hospital has been "fully booked" since last week, according to Dr. Josephine Sabando.
"As of now we have increased our manpower in our COVID areas. We added doctors and nurses to augment our personnel,” she said.
The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) was forced to open a new ward to accommodate more COVID-19 patients, said Dr. Jonas Del Rosario, PGH spokesperson.
"We opened one ward so we were able to produce 40 more beds but our intensive care unit is already full,” he said.
The Philippines confirmed 4,899 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing active cases to 48,157, a year since the government imposed an enhanced community quarantine in the country's largest and most populated landmass to curb the transmission of the disease.
Despite the rising number of COVID-19 patients, the Philippine College of Physicians said there was no need to call for a "timeout" to aid fatigued health frontliners.
But Philippines must pay close attention to the COVID-19 surge it's currently experiencing, public health expert Dr. Anna Ong Lim warned.
"I don't know whether the correct word to use is more worrisome. It's certainly something that we have to pay close attention to," said Lim, who is part of the technical working group that advises the Department of Health.
Lim noted the rise in COVID-19 cases was the same in July and August last year.
"If that was the situation at that time, we have to be ready for what might happen with this new increase in cases," she said.
Lim urged the public not to drop their guard against COVID-19 even as the country had started its inoculation program.
"I don't really know whether it's an accurate read. But I get this feeling that people are more complacent. Maybe it’s also brought about by the fact we've gone through the first one. And although it was something that you would not call a pleasant experience, people did live through it. They did see that most cases are mild. So maybe that informs the way we react," she said.
"Unlike the first time around, we didn't have any experience which on to base our reactions on. I guess the response was more cautious. I think now people are less so, I have to say. And I guess that really is just a natural response,” she said.
She warned of the presence of more contagious COVID-19 variants found in the UK, South Africa and Brazil. A new variant has also been detected in the Philippines.
"The longer they (virus) live, the more variations they have the opportunity to develop," she said.
Meanwhile, as the national utilization rate of beds and mechanical ventilators dedicated to COVID-19 patients is still considered low-risk at 35 percent, intensive care unit (ICU) beds are slowly being used up, the Department of Health said Monday.
Dr. Beverly Ho, director of the DOH Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Control bureaus, said Metro Manila’s ICU occupancy rate was already in the moderate-risk classification at 65 percent.
The capital region’s overall healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) stood at 49 percent while 38 percent of mechanical ventilators are in use.
The DOH also said a 47 percent HCUR and 49 percent ICU bed occupancy rate was logged in Central Visayas; 33 percent HCUR and 52 percent ICU utilization in Davao Region; and 56 percent HCUR and 71 percent ICU bed occupancy in the Cordillera region.
“We cannot just be complacent about the numbers now because the ICU beds are slowly being filled up,” Ho said in a briefing.
“As the total number of cases increase, inevitably, the number of patients going to ICUs will also increase,” she said.
The Philippines is seeing a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases, which the DOH said is being driven by new coronavirus variants and relaxed adherence to health protocols.
Experts from the OCTA Research Team have warned that the country could register up to 20,000 new cases per day by April if the surge is not contained.
The DOH has also urged the public to wear face masks even at home to avoid a clustering of COVID-19 cases within households.
In related developments, officials of the Philippine College of Physicians said despite the spike in the number of admissions for COVID-19, hospitals were still better able to manage the cases compared to August last year when health workers asked for a "timeout.”
“Even if we have almost the same number of cases, I would like to believe that the way the government is dealing with this problem right now is better to the one we had last year. We still don’t have any plans of asking for a time out, but we are open to communicating with the government,” said PCC Regent Dr. Nemencio Nicodemus Jr.
Nicodemus said that last year, there was no "integrated approach" to the surge in infections, which prompted them to ask for a time out.
“It's good that the government listened and there's now a better approach to solving COVID,” Nicodemus said.
For his part, infectious diseases specialist and PCP treasurer Dr. Rontgene Solante gave two reasons why he was not calling for a stricter lockdown at this time.
"One, we have been used to managing our patients with COVID. It’s been several months now, and most of us have already adapted to this way of life. Second, we are more prepared now, we know the more important things in clinical management,” Solante said.
Nicodemus, however, also said they were worried over the spike in COVID-19 cases.
”The sad reality, we see a lot of them in severe stages. Ito ang mga kababayan natin (These are our countrymen) who have to be intubated, and of course, some eventually die because of these cases. We, in the medical community, are worried about the rising numbers of COVID cases, but we do our best to make sure we provide them the health care they need to recover,” Nicodemus said.
At the San Lazaro Hospital, 60 percent of COVID-19 bed allocations are also occupied, Solante said.
The Quezon City General Hospital also reported that it already reached its COVID-19 capacity several days ago.
Solante, meanwhile, commended LGUs for their efforts in trying to curb the spread of the disease, and said he hopes local leaders can sustain these measures.
"The point of battle now is not just in the hospitals, but also in the LGUs where contact tracing, active case finding and granular lockdowns will really be an important step and determinant on how people will get the infection,” Solante said.
Medical experts said that besides the new coronavirus variants, looser restrictions and the public’s complacency on health protocols also contributed to the spike in cases.