Four physicians at the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) here were infected by coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), prompting the hospital management to suspend the services of some of its departments.
Dr. Julius Drilon, medical center chief II, confirmed the first two cases, both nurses, in the hospital on Wednesday.
Starting Thursday, the CLMMRH indefinitely suspended all its Out-Patient Department (OPD) services, based on the public advisory issued by Drilon.
The hospital also stopped any admission in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of the Department of Pediatrics until further notice.
Also, the Department of Surgery limited its admission to only extreme emergency cases until further notice.
“The hospital management would like to thank the public for its usual understanding especially in this time of pandemic,” Drilon said.
Three of the four physicians were rendering duty at the Department of Surgery while the other one was assigned at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The two nurses were among the staff at the NICU.
The six confirmed cases were among the 85 hospital personnel and patients whose swab samples were collected on Tuesday.
In a radio interview, Drilon said the six infected hospital personnel were asymptomatic.
Two of them are under home quarantine while the four have been isolated at the hospital’s quarantine facility.
On Wednesday, Drilon said they have implemented all safety and precautionary measures such as terminal cleaning and disinfection of the hospital wards, and conducting intensive contact tracing.
In July, the CLMMRH, a Department of Health (DOH)-managed hospital, in partnership with the City of Bacolod, unveiled the first hospital-based Level 3 testing laboratory in the country to strengthen the local response to the Covid-19 pandemic. (Story by Nanette Guadalquive, NDB, photo by PNA)
