On April 17, the Bataan Provincial Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) designated the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) as an exclusive facility to cater severe cases of COVID including the suspect, probable, and confirmed. Elective surgeries, direct consultations, and other health needs not related to COVID are referred to the district hospitals and Centro Medico Santisimo Rosario Hospital, a private institution wherein the Provincial Government of Bataan has a Memorandum of Agreement to serve the people needing medical assistance.
“Despite having 55 hospital personnel who tested positive for COVID, Dr. Glory Baltazar, Medical Center Chief, assured that BGHMC is still capable of managing severe COVID patients as there are still 200 personnel, including doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff, who had no direct contact with confirmed cases or were tested negative. A total of 1,022 personnel was collected with NPS/OPS specimen, 312 of whom tested negative while the other 655are pending results as of April 23,” said Regional Director, Dr. Cesar Cassion.
“BGHMC was able to successfully treat severe cases of COVID referred by other private hospitals in the province. One was a 70-year-old female who already yielded negative result on her repeat laboratory confirmation, and the other was a 13-year-old male who is currently at post-discharge quarantine facility for close monitoring and is scheduled for repeat testing after the end of his quarantine period. To date, 13 out of 15 recoveries in the province of Bataan were treated and managed at BGHMC.” Dr. Cassion added.
The hospital still continuously provides dialysis services; it has a total of 14 hemodialysis machines, 11 units are for non-infectious patients while the remaining three are dedicated for COVID suspect and confirmed cases. To ensure infection prevention and control, the machines intended for COVID suspects are isolated and enclosed with plastic dividers and regular decontamination is conducted. Prior to the hemodialysis procedure, all patients are carefully assessed for COVID symptoms, if found symptomatic, they will be immediately referred to a triage tent for further evaluation and possible specimen collection. In addition, patients are provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) before they enter the hemodialysis center.
Animal bite services are temporarily transferred to the Provincial and City Health Office (P/CHO). Likewise, pediatric cancer patients are provided continuous treatment in a designated satellite facility for their chemotherapy by BGHMC Hematologist-Oncologist.
To address out-patient consultations, the hospital has established a functional telecommunication for those who wish to have consultation via telephone, and a websitewhich can be accessed at https://www.bghmc-sdn.net/telemedicine which operates Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
