THE Department of Health (DOH) government is caught flat-footed anew as leptospirosis cases at the San Lazaro Hospital in Manila rose to 57 with limited medical professionals attending to patients in distress.
Citing in-house data, the uptick of patients diagnosed with leptospirosis was recorded hours after admitting 23 individuals from Metro Manila and adjoining provinces.
According to Dr. Princess Petallana, a fellow at the hospital’s Adult Infectious Disease Unit, San Lazaro has yet to reach the 65-bed capacity limit, but is “running out of medical staff to take care of the patients.
“Yung nurses po namin kulang din. Although nagpu-pull out po kami from other departments, from other wards pero kulang pa rin,” Petallana said in a television interview.
Moreover, Petallana said that their supply of medicines is also running low, even as she expressed apprehension over an imminent problem in the case severe patients would need to undergo dialysis.
Interestingly, San Lazaro Hospital only has four hemodialysis machines and only three nurses who have the technical expertise to operate.
In response, the DOH promised to send additional equipment, health workers, and medicine to struggling medical facilities.
This comes as the DOH clarified that all public hospitals have the capability to treat leptospirosis patients and that there is no need to flock to San Lazaro and the National Kidney and Transplant Institute, which is also getting overwhelmed with leptospirosis cases.
“Ang leptospirosis, hindi lamang sa NKTI ginagamot. Lahat po ng ospital, kayang mag-dialysis. Lahat po ng ospital, kayang gumamot ng leptospirosis,” said DOH Spokesperson, Dr. Albert Domingo.
However, not all government hospitals have dialysis machines.
As this developed, the health department ordered all Metro Manila hospitals to activate their Leptospirosis Surge Capacity Plan in preparation for a possibly bigger surge in cases amid the rainy season. (ANGEL F. JOSE)
