As of December 31, 2021, SPMC’s intensive care unit (ICU) bed utilization rate is still at 21.67 percent which means 13 only out of the 60 beds are occupied. As for the ward beds, 72 out of the 308 beds are occupied, or a utilization rate of 23.38 percent.
According to SPMC and the Department of Health’s (DOH’s) critical utilization rate, an occupancy level that is between 71 and 100 percent is considered a “danger zone”; an occupancy rate level between 31 to 70 percent is considered a “warning zone”; and under “safe zone” when it is from 1 to 30 percent.
In September and October last year, SPMC had experienced an overwhelming surge of admitted Covid-19 patients, which was highly attributed to the Delta variant.
SPMC is currently the lone Covid-19 referral hospital in Davao City since November 2021 following the downtrend of active cases in the city resulting in a low number of admitted patients.
SunStar Davao reached out to SPMC Chief Dr. Ricardo Audan for further details on the hospital’s Covid-19 management situation, but he has not replied as of press time.
In a previous interview, Audan said they are already preparing for a possible surge of cases following the recent detection of the Omicron variant in the Philippines in mid-December last year.
As of the present, he said they had converted some Covid-19 beds and rooms to other non-Covid-19 patients and transactions.
Meanwhile, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio already told the city health cluster to brace for the possible surge of Covid-19 cases in early January 2022, as expected by health officials. (RGL)
