MANILA – The government is doing every effort possible to ensure the remains of those who died due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will not pile up in hospitals, National Task Force COVID-19 chief implementer Carlito Galvez Jr. said.
The national task force, according to Galvez, has designated the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Office of Civil Defense to retrieve the bodies in hospitals for proper disposition.
“Kapag nag-report ang ospital na merong cadaver, kinukuha nila. Ang [gusto] namin ay talagang malinis ang ospital ng mga cadaver,” he said in an interview with DZBB AM.
Galvez added that the rule is to cremate the body within 12 hours upon death in order to prevent contamination but there are some cases where relatives of the COVID-19 casualties leave the remains behind.
“Ang nagiging problema natin kasi ay ‘yung mga pasyente, iniiwan na lang ng mga pamilya so nahihirapan ang ospital na i-identify. Kasi talagang dapat bago i-cremate dapat i-identify,” Galvez said.
Galvez’s statement came after the East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) in Quezon City admitted on Saturday that bodies have piled up in the hallways of the morgue the past few days due to lack of body bags.
EAMC spokesperson Dr. Dennis Ordoña said in a television interview the pile up of bodies was due to the hospital not having sufficient equipment, such as freezers, to store additional human remains.
“Ang capacity lang po kasi noon [morgue] is for five patients. Ang pinakamataas po na na-record po namin ay 20 na mga cadavers na hindi po napi-pick-up,” Ordona said in an interview with CNN Philippines.
“May mga bangkay na po doon na nangangamoy na. Umaabot na din po admittedly ‘yung amoy sa ibang areas po ng hospital,” he added. “So far, wala pa namang nagpositive sa COVID-19 so they are considered as persons under investigation.”
He also said the hospital is not used to having bodies unclaimed and that it might have something to do with the filled-up slots for cremation but as of Saturday, there were only six unclaimed bodies in the hospital.
Citing an unnamed frontliner, GMA 7 news anchor Arnold Clavio posted on his social media account on Saturday that dead bodies are piled up in the hallway of a hospital. He added that the said hospital is now requesting for more body bags.
Ordoña said that the hospital is open for donations of personal protective equipment, body bags, and a mobile morgue or freezer to store human remains. He also says the hospital will not cease operations./PN
