ILOILO City – Healthcare workers of The Medical City in Molo district were being ostracized from their boardinghouses and barangays following the confirmation that Western Visayas’ second positive case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was confined in that hospital.
“I have been receiving information that our fellow Ilonggos in the medical profession are being discriminated. Buses reject them. Carinderias won’t sell food to them. Their landlords are evicting them. We should not allow this to happen,” said an alarmed Mayor Jerry Treñas.
On Saturday, the Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 confirmed that a male patient of The Medical City tested positive for COVID-19 – the second in the region; the first positive case was in Bacolod City.
“Please keep in mind if our healthcare workers cannot eat, if they cannot go to work, if they cannot rest and sleep, who will take care of you if you get infected,” Treñas reminded the public.
Some medical staff of the hospital were reportedly denied entry to their boardinghouses.
Two nurses who were supposed to report to work were refused passage at a checkpoint in Tigbauan, Iloilo.
“To keep our medical staff safe, and upon the call for help from our fellow Ilonggos, I would like to inform healthcare workers that we will be making the Iloilo City College available for your billeting. Please bring beddings and food in the meantime,” Treñas announced yesterday.
He further appealed to the public: “You can sponsor a medical staff for food and lodging. Any help will go a long way.”
“Let us be heroes in our own little way. Let us make our fathers and forefathers proud. Kun magbinuligay kita malampasan ini naton tanan.”
‘NO DANGER TO PUBLIC’
The Medical City assured the public its healthcare workers and frontliners pose no health risk to the public.
“The management had already identified and quarantined healthcare workers who have come in contact with the said patient. Thus, these healthcare workers and frontliners no longer pose any danger to those who are coming in at TMC Iloilo and the general public as a whole,” it stressed.
Only those healthcare workers who did not have direct contact with the patient have been allowed to report to duty, according to the Medical City.
A person testing positive for COVID-19 is not an unexpected development especially in an urban setting such as ours, said Dr. Felix Ray Villa, chief executive officer of The Medical City.
“We were not praying for this but we have been preparing for this. We are fortunate that we can rely on experts who have been through this particular situation. We have been in constant contact with some of them and we took their experience and used it to prepare ourselves for this eventuality,” revealed Villa.
He assured the public that The Medical City’s healthcare staff “have been judicious regarding protective protocols in handling such patients.”
“Our quarantine protocols have already been in place even before this positive result. We have taken each possible precaution to make sure this is contained. There is no cause for panic as the proper protocols have been observed and followed,” stressed Villa.
‘WE’RE HERE TO CARE, NOT TO SCARE’
In another statement posted in its official Facebook page yesterday, The Medical City asked for support and understanding.
Here’s the statement in full:
“Our #HealthcareHeroes need your support and understanding in these very challenging times. The Medical City Iloilo healthcare workers and frontliners have been doing their duties to take care of the sick and protect the community against COVID-19. While we are doing this for everyone, can we ask a little favor?
“Please include us in your prayers. Broaden your understanding, and avoid any kind of discrimination. We need it now more than ever.
“We truly understand that you just want to be safe and healthy. And we’re thinking the same. That is why we are ensuring the safety of everyone – each patient we take care of, their families, our colleagues, and even our own families and acquaintances.
“We are your allies in this battle.
“So, don’t be scared because we will always be here to care.”
THE PATIENT
He was a 65-year-old retired seaman and resident of Guimbal, Iloilo.
He was tested on March 13 and the result came out on Saturday morning.
According to DOH-6 director Dr. Marlyn Convocar, the patient had no travel history to countries and cities with coronavirus cases but was exposed to relatives who had recently travelled to Japan and Canada but were asymptomatic.
The patient started to manifest symptoms like cough and fever on March 6 and was hospitalized on March 13.
Convocar said contact tracing had been launched for persons who had a close interaction with the patient. They would either be considered persons under monitoring (PUMs, f they manifest no signs and symptoms) or patients under investigation (PUIs, if they show signs and symptoms).
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a close contact is someone who has been face to face for at least 15 minutes or been in the same closed space for at least two hours with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 when that person was infectious.
If a person has been identified to have had close contact with someone confirmed to have COVID-19 while infectious, WHO said a 14-day self-quarantine is recommended./PN
The Medical City Hospital is already life threatening under normal conditions as the staff and doctors are totally incapable. I came there last year with a kidney injury with internal bleedings and their X -ray device was out of order, and they were not able to get a doctor at night for more than 3 hours. The same happened to St. Paul’s Hospital where they send me away because they had no doctors for emergency treatment nor any room available. Again this was under normal conditions. Pray hard because if Corona will hit Iloilo City many people are supposed to die. God bless