PGH faces manpower shortage as COVID infections soar

The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is facing a manpower shortage as coronavirus infections in the country continue to soar.

In an interview over ANC on Monday, Sept. 13, PGH spokesperson Dr. Jonas del Rosario said the state-run COVID-referral hospital continues to grapple with staff shortage as some of their health workers are "getting sick."

"Nararamdaman namin yung problema namin sa manpower. A lot of our healthcare workers are getting sick also. Marami na ring pagod. Some are also exposed to the virus, so some of them had to take the mandatory quarantine (We are experiencing manpower shortage. A lot of our healthcare workers are getting sick. Many are tired. Some are also exposed to the virus, so they had to take mandatory quarantine)," del Rosario said.

"A lot of patients are coming in. We're operating on full capacity. Talagang stretched out ang aming manpower (our manpower is really stretched out)," he added.

Del Rosario hopes COVID-19 booster shots would eventually be made available to health workers who are considered "high-risk" for the virus.

"It's so hard to demand in a situation wherein about 70 percent of the population has not even received a single dose.

So medyo malaking inequality," Del Rosario added.

"[Since our health workers are exposed to COVID-19 patients], I think that can be used as a reason, kasi (because) we have a situation na talagang high-risk exposure ang aming frontliners (our frontliners get high-risk exposure)."

He noted that most of PGH's vaccinated health workers who had breakthrough COVID-19 infections only experienced mild symptoms, stressing that the "vaccine protected them."

Del Rosario said PGH is eyeing to hire private practitioners to augment their manpower.

"It's hard to open up more beds, more wards if we do not have the right doctors to take care of them. A lot of our patients are severely ill, they really demand specialists."

Del Rosario said PGH is now operating beyond its capacity with 310 patients occupying beds and 40 more waiting in the emergency room. The hospital also had to implement "task-sharing" among departments to be able to accept more COVID-19 patients.

Only 5 DOH volunteers remain

In a separate interview over DZMM, Del Rosario said the manpower problem is worsened by volunteer doctors who decided not to renew their contracts.

“Ito po’y mga doctor na naempleyo ng Department of Health (DOH). Mga tawag po namin sa kanila mga DOH volunteers. Ang original po na nagpunta sa PGH at tumulong, mga 25 po sila. As of today, ang alam ko po ay lima na lang po ang natitira (These are doctors employed by DOH. We call them DOH volunteers. There were about 25 of them who went to PGH. As of today, what I know is there are only five left),” Del Rosario said.

“Iba ibang time po sila hindi nag-renew. Hindi po isang bagsakan ito. Over the course na isang taon na rin. May iba po na hindi na nag-renew (Their non-renewal of contract did not come in one fell swoop. It happened in the course of about a year),” Del Rosario added.

Some volunteer doctors reportedly

had quit to pursue their subspecialty.

Del Rosario said PGH is currently hiring doctors and that the DOH is "willing to pay for any takers."

He appealed that the department should increase the salary offer to be able to invite doctors to take the job.

"They are doing extra work. Sabi nga ng iba, buwis buhay yung ginagawa nila (As some say, they are putting their lives on the line). They really want to be compensated and you hear stories na even the basic hazard pay, their special risk allowances delayed pa," he said.

"I think bottomline is at least taasan mo man lang yung suweldo (increase the salary) for now, nitong during the pandemic," Del Rosario added.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said measures are being undertaken to address the situation, including the ongoing recruitment of the Department of Health (DOH) of medical professionals.

The DOH, he said continues to recruit medical professionals who are either volunteers or new hires. (With reports from Jaleen Ramos and Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)