Quarantine of 64 workers stifle hospital operation
HEALTH • 09:45 AM Tue Jul 21, 2020
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By:
John M. Unson
The Cotabato Regional Medical Center is central Mindanao's largest government hospital.
COTABATO CITY --- Central Mindanao’s largest government hospital shall only attend to life threatening emergency cases meantime that 64 of its employees are under observation for COVID-19 infection.
Four patients who hid from the management of the Cotabato Regional Medical Center their respective travel history eventually tested positive to coronavirus, after prolonged contacts with so many CRMC personnel, among them nurses, physicians and other health support providers.
The parents of one of the four patients, a four-year-old child who succumbed to COVID-19, lied about their recent sojourn, along with the victim, back to Lanao del Sur province after having been stranded outside by the nationwide anti-coronavirus quarantine lockdown.
Physician Helen Yambao, chief of CRMC, said Tuesday they are anticipating setbacks in their operation now that a big number of hospital personnel have been placed under quarantine.
“We shall only attend to life threatening emergency cases meantime,” Yambao said.
All CRMC employees who had contacts with all four COVID-19 patients have been tested for the disease but results are not out yet.
Doctors who treated the four patients were among the first to submit to swab testing and subsequent quarantine.
The CRMC management also announced that it will temporarily close down its intensive care unit for disinfection.