The Committee on Health of the Sangguniang Panlungsod will invite the heads of private and public hospitals in Puerto Princesa City to a hearing to talk about possible changes to how COVID-19 infection prevention protocols are put into place.
Councilor Modesto V. Rodriguez III said he has gotten a lot of complaints from locals about how their patients are being treated in hospitals, especially in emergency situations that need help right away. This is why he wrote a resolution asking hospitals to change their COVID-19 response protocols.
The resolution, co-authored by Councilors Patrick Alex M. Hagedorn and Judith M. Bayron, was referred to the Committee on Health and will be heard next week.
Rodriguez stated that since the situation of COVID-19 is no longer that high and considering that other health standards have also been eased down, they will request hospitals to also change their protocols, especially during emergency situations.
He also said that the protocols that are being used are old and based on how things were when the pandemic was at its worst.
“Nabalitaan natin na may mga kababayan tayong nagrereklamo kasi halimbawa si pasyente dadalhin sa hospital dahil emergency, ngayon ang nangyayari pala, tine-test muna sa COVID, at paglabas ng resulta bago sila asikasuhin,” Rodriguez said.
“So gumawa tayo ng resolution na ganyan para kasi meron pa rin pala silang protocol na ganyan, so ni-request sa mga hospital na i-reduce na nila yung protocol, lalo na pag emergency, lapatan muna ng lunas bago yung tests. Kasi yung protocol na pinapairal ng mga hospital ay naka-base pa doon sa time na malala pa yung COVID situation natin. Ngayon hindi na rin naman ganoon kalala pero sila, ang sinusunod pa rin nilang protocol ay naka-base pa rin doon sa dating sitwasyon,” he added.
Rodriguez also said he was informed about the current hospital protocols by city health officials during another committee hearing.
“Kaya ko ginawa yang resolution na yan, I brought that out sa ating city health officials at sila nga ang nag-inform din sa akin tungkol sa protocol na yan. So yan din ang magiging basis na ipatawag yung hospital heads, at para magkaroon din sila ng basis na i-reduce na yung protocols,” he explained.
Furthermore, Rodriguez stated that he also received information that some hospitals require COVID-19 tests to be administered in the hospital and that they do not accept the test results from the City Health Office. He said this puts an extra burden on the families of patients as they have to incur additional expenses.
“At may isa pa silang ipinarating na mayroong hospital na nire-require nila na dapat sila ang mag-test at hindi tinatanggap yung test result na galing sa City Health Office. So nag-rereklamo yung mga tao dahil dagdag gastos pa yun sa kanila samantalang yung test galing sa city ay lilbre,” he said.
“So isa rin yun sa pag-uusapan naming sa committee hearing na kung pwede ay i-honor nila yung test result galing sa city,” he added.