Hospitals, COVID-19 wards in Benguet reach capacity

Eighty-five percent of the total bed capacity of the 11 hospitals in Benguet are already occupied due to the rising Covid-19 cases in the province.
The Provincial Health Office reported on Sept. 8 that 178 of the 209 combined bed capacities of the various private and district hospitals in the province are filled with Covid-19 and non-Covid patients.  
The eight-bed capacity Northern Benguet District Hospital in Buguias is at full capacity having two confirmed cases and six suspected cases while the Benguet General Hospital, which has a 126-bed capacity has 116 occupants, of which 74 are Covid-19 patients.
The Atok District Hospital with 11 beds has 10 occupants with three confirmed cases and seven suspected cases; Dennis Molintas Memorial Hospital in Bokod with 10-bed capacity has nine occupants with four confirmed and five suspected cases; the Lepanto Mine Hospital in Mankayan has one suspected case; and the Lutheran Hospital in Buguias has nine suspected cases.
The province’s lone private hospital, the 27-bed capacity Cordillera Hospital of the Divine Grace in La Trinidad, has 25 occupants with 20 confirmed cases and five suspected cases.   
Gov. Melchor Diclas said they have already set up 20 makeshift tents within the BeGH complex to cater to emergency cases.
“Our emergency rooms are full, there are patients waiting outside of the emergency room so we set up tents for those who are waiting, and those patients who will be coming for emergency because we cannot say no to them,” Diclas said.
He said most of those Covid-19 patients admitted at the BeGH range from moderate, severe to critical.
Diclas said he has already met with the chiefs of hospitals of the various district hospitals for emergency procurement of medical supplies and hiring of personnel to augment the manpower requirement at the provincial hospital.
The province is reverted back to general community quarantine from Sept. 8 to 30. 
Non-Benguet residents are reminded to present a negative RT-PCR test result or a vaccination card with a fully-vaccinated status at the checkpoint before entering the province. – Ofelia C. Empian