BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) here is taking steps to increase its beds for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. The hospital reached full capacity over the weekend.
Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH medical center chief, said the COVID-dedicated beds included those in the hospital’s Critical Care Unit.
The Emergency Room (ER) can no longer accept new COVID-19 cases except for “extreme emergency cases” only, he stressed.
In the meantime, Drilon advised COVID-19 patients to seek medical care from other hospitals outside Bacolod City or in Negros province.
CLMMRH had planned to increase its COVID-19 bed capacity to 24 but the move was delayed until next month. The needed machinery was delayed due to the recent strict lockdown in Manila.
Currently, the ER has 26 COVID-19 beds, but Drilon said it was important to decongest it.
Drilon also referred all mild COVID-19 cases to the Bacolod City Emergency Operations Center and the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office of Negros Occidental./PN
