By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

The Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) issued an advisory yesterday morning stating that two of their medical wards have already reached full capacity for its COVID-19 allocated beds.

Dr. Julius Drilon, CLMMRH medical center chief, identified the medical wards as the OB-Gyne Ward and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Drilon said effective immediately the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and NICU will limit their admission to extreme emergency cases only until further notice.

“Further, due to fluidity of the situation at the COVID wards of CLMMRH, the Public Advisory No. 7 issued last May 22, 2021 will be updated in a timely manner,” he said.

The medical center chief also assured that the hospital has collaborated and has established communication with the city government of Bacolod and local government units in the province of Negros Occidental to ensure effective and efficient coordination of patient transfers to address the needs of the patients needing hospital care.

Drilon has also recommended to coordinate all patient transport with CLMMRH’s Operations Center.

Earlier, CLMMRH announced that it would limit hospital admissions as their COVID-designated beds are nearing full capacity.

“The hospital’s dedicated hospital beds for COVID-19 regular patients is nearing its full capacity of 93 percent,” Drilon said.

He further pointed out to the public that six out of seven dedicated Intensive Care Unit beds for COVID-19 patients have already been occupied.

The medical center chief has also observed an increasing positivity rate in detecting COVID-19 cases in the local population.

Drilon said the range of positivity is currently at 32.7 percent to 42.2 percent./DGB, WDJ