By NG Seruela
The Philippine General Hospital (PGH) reported that 100% of the evacuated patients are now back to their original wards following the fire that hit the building on Sunday (May 16).
In a Laging Handa public briefing on Monday (May 17), PGH Director Dr. Gap Legaspi stated that almost 500 patients were evacuated from their wards and brought to the designated areas based on the hospital’s fire drills.
Once the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) and the PGH’s engineering office have given them clearance that the area is safe, the staff started to bring back the patients to their wards at around 7:00 a.m., and by 10:00 a.m., 90% of the patients were already in their wards.
“So by around 10 o’clock, almost 90%t were already in their designated areas at except for iyong mga napadala namin na mga bagong panganak sa Sta. Ana Hospital dahil iyong area nila hindi pa kaagad na-clear, may mga amoy usok pa, ayaw namin silang ma-compromise doon. At thankfully ang ating mga kasama sa Sta. Ana Hospital accepted the 12 babies eventually na nalipat sa kanila. So for today 100% na lahat ng pasyente back to their original designation, sa wards,” Legaspi said.
Dir. Legaspi stated that they have temporarily closed the emergency room (ER) since it was affected by the fire. He requested for one to two days to fix the ER and resume its normal operations.
“So ang One Hospital Command ay tinulungan po kaming mailipat ang labing pitong pasyente sa iba’t ibang DOH hospitals. We really appreciate that. So sa ngayon po, sarado muna ang emergency room kaya kung mayroon pong darating na pasyente dito baka ilipat muna namin to the efforts of the One Hospital Command,” he shared
Dr. Legaspi emphasized that the fire directly damaged the operating room supply and autoclave room where the support systems, gowns, drapes needed in an operating room are located as well as the sterilization of tools.
According to Legaspi, based on their staff that were on-duty the time the incident happened, the possible culprit of the fire is electrical since it came from the ceiling.
“Wala pa pong official report ang Bureau of Fire at ang Arson Division. Pero po, base sa mga account ng aming mga staff na nandoon, posible pong electrical ang pinanggalingan dahil sa kisame ho nanggaling eh, sa kisame. At dahil ho ang mga linen at ang mga drapes na disposable ay highly flammable, so nagkaroon po ng tuluy-tuloy na combustion, na pagsunog ‘no.”
He said that five sterilization units were caught in the fire. An official report on the estimated cost of damage of the fire is yet to be issued.
“Ang estimate po ay hindi pa rin ho maeksakto kasi ang autoclave area po, diyan po nakalagay ang highly specialized instruments ng mga pag-oopera na maaaring ang isang set ay mag-cost ng 1 million o 3 million, ganoon po. So hindi pa ho namin nasusumatutal.” -rir
