PAGADIAN CITY—Admissions in the Zamboanga del Sur Medical Center
(ZSMC) is listed at an average of 775 patients monthly, latest
information from the said hospital stated.
Chief Nurse Helen Arao disclosed that for the first quarter this year,
hospital figures regarding regular in-patients and natural deliveries
remain the same while there's a variation in both major and minor
operations, including caesarean deliveries and the number of
mortalities.
She cited, for example, that there are 65 major operations for January
and February while this increased to 72 in March. Seven minor
operations were listed for the first two months and this hiked to
eight in March.
There's a lone patient transferred to another hospital in January and
this became three in March as caesarean deliveries for January is
listed at 67 then this reduced by February to 37 and two notches down
by March.
Fifty-two dialysis patients were recorded in January and for February,
this increased to 64 by March while there are 38 recorded mortalities
in January and 28 by February and March.
To recall, ZSMC announced last April it has limited visitation time to
maximize therapeutic periods for their admitted patients.
Arao explained the new policy does not totally restrict quick visits
or appointments between family relatives and their patients but only
regulate the length of daily schedule of visits from 10:00 in the
morning to 12:00 noon and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
"The reason for this is to give time for hospital sanitation and
housecleaning during mornings and for nurses and doctors to make their
rounds to give medications and treatment," she said.
For this, Arao said ZSMC need to decongest its wards in order not to
disturb the medical staff in their work.
"In the afternoons until 8:00 p.m. we want our patients to get early
rest to restore their health. Kinahanglan kaayo nila makapahulay og
sayo without the noise," she said.
The new policy likewise prohibit entry of children below 10 years to
come and visit patients in the medical facility "because they are
prone to contagious diseases and children have less resistance to
diseases they might contract while loitering in hospital premises,"
the chief nurse explained.
As for watchers, ZSMC only allow 3-4 persons at most for every patient
while strictly limiting this to two when there's numerous admissions.
"We do not allow them also to roam around the hospital and we have a
watcher's class to educate them on this policy," Arao stressed.
When asked why there are patients sleeping along the lobby of the
hospital, Arao clarified that ZSMC is only equipped with 100 beds but
they opted "to accommodate everybody who comes for medical attention,
especially the poor."
And since the ward spaces are constricted, they temporarily allow some
of the patients with negligible case admissions to sleep in the lobby
but transfer them once there are discharges from the ones sleeping
inside.