Metro Pacific hospital at forefront of fight vs COVID

Lady of Lourdes Hospital (OLLH), the designated COVID-19 referral facility of Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings Inc. (MPHHI), continues to accept suspect, probable and confirmed patients in support of the government’s efforts to flatten the pandemic’s curve.

OLLH is a 230-bed capacity Level 3 hospital operated by the Metro Pacific group. “MPHHI, including OLLH, is one with the government in preventing the spread of the pandemic in the country,” Augusto Palisoc Jr., president and CEO of MPHHI, said.

Since its designation on March 23 as referral center, the number of its confirmed COVID patients has grown by four times. Likewise, probable COVID cases has grown more than 12 times. from only 12 patients, when the center opened in March.

To accommodate the increasing number of COVID patients in the facility, OLLH has opened multiple wards to separate patients of different symptom profiles. For example, aside from wards for COVID confirmed patients, there are separate dedicated quarantine wards for suspect cases, wards for patients developing respiratory problems thus classified as probable cases, and wards for healthcare professional and healthcare workers.

Dr. Joyce Santos, OLLH’s vice president for medical services, said as part of MPHHI’s protocols to prevent new in-hospital infection clusters, OLLH is strictly implementing and continuously improving patient care processes for COVID and non-COVID cases.

In line with this, OLLH conducts periodic testing of frontliners as well as prompt contact tracing and quarantine procedures once health-workers develop symptoms, Dr. Santos added.

Under the new normal, MPHHI member hospitals, including OLLH, are stocking up on personal protective equipment, putting in place infrastructure improvements for zoning, and strictly implementing infection prevention measures/ controls to fully protect returning doctors and patients.

OLLH expects to gradually return to its normal operations to include the booking of its operating rooms for surgical procedures and OB cases, and the resumption of face-to-face consultations as at least 70 percent of doctors return to their clinics to offer full coverage of all medical specialty services.