BAGUIO HOSPITAL CRITICAL CARE UTILIZATION RATE REMAINS HIGH

19 May 2021 – Local health authorities reported that the city’s hospital critical care utilization rate remains at high risk while the utilization of the available beds in the various isolation units dropped to low risk.

City Health officer Dr. Rowena Galpo reported that the average hospital critical care utilization rate among the existing government and private health care facilities in the city is around 75.20 percent, a high-risk level as of May 17, 2021.

For the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC), she claimed that ward beds have a 70.07 percent occupancy, isolation beds reached 84.52 percent occupancy, intensive care unit beds was said to be at 72.73 percent occupancy, bed occupancy was estimated to be around 75.20 percent occupancy and mechanical ventilators was recorded to have a 66.67 percent occupancy.

In the case of the Saint Luis University (SLU) Hospital of the Sacred heart, it reported a bed occupancy of 94.44 percent where ward beds have reached 80 percent occupancy while isolation beds and ICU beds are already 100 percent occupied but mechanical ventilators are only 50 percent occupied.

Notre Dame de Chartres and Pines City Doctors hospital reported full occupancy of their ward beds, isolation beds and mechanical ventilators.

On the bed occupancy of the different isolation units, Galpo claimed that the average occupancy of the said units is around 45.05 percent where a total of 369 out of the 819 authorized beds are occupied by the patients undergoing isolation.

For the city’s central community isolation unit based at the former Sto. Nin֮o hospital, the occupancy rate is 51.14 percent where 179 beds of the authorized 350 beds are occupied with 5 step down and 21 patients awaiting in the staging area.

At the Roxas hall in Teachers Camp, the occupancy rate is 51.58 percent where 163 beds of the 316 authorized beds have been occupied while the 10-bed Magsaysay hall is not yet occupied.

In the case of the Laurel dorm which is dedicated as the isolation facility for health workers, the occupancy is 13.86 percent where 14 beds of the 101 authorized beds are currently occupied while the central triage quarantine facility has an 8.3 percent capacity where 1 bed of the 12 authorized beds are occupied.

For the Ferioni apartment quarantine facility, the occupancy is around 40 percent, where 12 beds of the 30 authorized bds are already occupied by patients awaiting for the release of their swab test results.

Under the classification standards of the health department, the hospital critical utilization rate is considered low risk when the occupancy is from 0-59 percent, moderate risk if the occupancy is from 60-69 percent, high risk if the occupancy is from 70-84 percent and critical risk if the occupancy is from 85-100 percent.

Galpo stipulated that the city’s COVID cases are continuously decreasing but there is still a need to reduce the occupancy of the existing government and private health facilities to lower the risk level of the city. – Dexter A. See