'Full Capacity Everywhere': Manila Hospitals Struggle As Virus Surges

Manila, April 9 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 9th Apr, 2021 ) :Angelo Barrera's father struggled to breathe from Covid-19 as he was driven around the Philippine capital in search of a hospital bed. After five hours he got on a waitlist, but died before he could get inside.

More contagious variants of the coronavirus have been blamed for a record surge in infections in Metro Manila that has overstretched hospitals and sent the national capital region into lockdown.

Long queues at emergency rooms have forced people to drive from one health facility to the next in search of treatment, in a situation described by a hospital official as a "nightmare".

"They went to eight hospitals physically -- it was full capacity everywhere," said Barrera, who called an additional 20 medical centres during his father's ordeal last month.

The 61-year-old pastor, who had no pre-existing conditions, suddenly collapsed after suffering mild symptoms of the disease for about 10 days.

"Admission was full, ER was full and even the waitlist for the ER was full. Some hospitals had told us they had 40 patients waiting to get into the ER," said Barrera.

Eventually, at around 4:00 am, a large private hospital added him to its waitlist for the intensive care unit.

He was on a stretcher and hooked up to an oxygen tank in the patient drop-off area outside the packed emergency room when he died, said Barrera, who declined to name his father.

"Even though we know the ICU isn't miraculously going to save him it was still our best shot." A Covid-19 referral hotline set up during the pandemic to direct the sick to the appropriate hospital has been swamped, unable to handle the hundreds of calls a day to the service.

Many have turned to social media to crowdsource information on facilities still accepting patients -- and vent their frustration at the hospital bottlenecks.

"We called 48 hospitals in & around Metro Manila for a friend; her oxygen is at 75%," Laurel Flores Fantauzzo tweeted on March 31.

"All are full. Many won't add to waitlists. I wish there were field hospitals. Medical ships. Transformed stadiums. We'll pay whatever to save her but the infrastructure doesn't exist. Help, please."