By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga
In response to the rising coronavirus disease 2019, or Covid-19, cases, the provincial government of Negros Occidental has increased patient capacity in its two district hospitals to a total of 160 beds.
Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson recently designated the Valladolid District Hospital as the province’s second hospital dedicated to Covid-19 patients.
This is in line with the determined effort of the governor to further build the capacity of the province to ably handle the Covid-19 situation.
In a memorandum order issued to Dr. Myre Parpa, Medical Officer IV and the hospital’s officer-in-charge, Lacson directed Parpa to devote 50 beds for Covid-19 positive cases on or before September 14.
In the north, the Cadiz District Hospital is the province’s first Covid-19 health facility.
In a separate memorandum, the governor directed Dr. Ma. Girlie Pinongan, Chief of Hospital II, to devote 110 beds for Covid-19 positive patients not later than September 14.
This is an increase of 81 beds from the initial 29 when Cadiz District Hospital was designated as an exclusive facility for Covid-19 patients in March.
Lacson said that 20 beds will be established on every floor – on the third, fourth and fifth floors.
Also, 10 beds will be set up in the isolation room and 40 beds will be added at the former Province of Negros Occidental-Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology building.
In an updated action plan released last Tuesday, Lacson said that currently, residents of Bacolod City infected with Covid-19 also compete for beds in Cadiz District Hospital.
He noted that “Negrenses die in ambulances, transports, and homes unable to reach or secure admission in hospitals.”
Lacson urged local government units in the province to learn from the current experience of Bacolod.
Lacson’s comments came after the province’s capital city reverted to modified enhanced community quarantine until September 30./DGB, WDJ