Referred patients need RT-PCR results before being admitted to Davao City hospitals

DAVAO CITY – Patients referred to hospitals in Davao City are now required to present reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and chest X-Ray test results clearing them of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and pneumonia issued within 48 hours before they could be admitted, Mayor Sara Duterte said.

In her interview over Davao City Disaster Radio (DCDR 87.5) on Friday, Duterte said that her latest order was issued to protect private hospitals and their medical health workers, tasked with catering to non-COVID-19 patients, from possible exposure to the highly contagious disease.

She said that there were instances when some of the referred patients manifested the symptoms of the disease only after admission to a hospital, risking medical frontliners of exposure to COVID-19.

“There was a patient who went to a hospital for check-up for his ailment. The patient was swabbed when the doctor said he was a COVID-19 suspect. The result came out only after the checkup was completed. The patient turned out COVID-19 positive. Everybody there was already exposed. We needed to look for this person, telling all hospitals that we were searching for this patient who was already back in Cotabato,” she said.

Government-run Southern Philippines Medical Center and Davao Regional Medical Center in Tagum City were designated as COVID-19 referral hospitals, at the onset of the outbreak, she said.

“What will happen if we allow other hospitals to cater to nonCOVID-19 cases is that we will run out of health care workers because, every time that there is a positive patient, they will need to go on quarantine. And then, of course, our health care workers, due to their constant exposure, will be infected, which might cripple the operation of the hospitals,” she said.

The local chief executive released Executive Order 53 on Friday, requiring mandatory COVID-19 RT-PCR testing of resident non-resident patients who are referred for treatment to another hospital.