THE coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) referral hospital of the Metro Pacific Group has been recording increasing patients over the past weeks with the resurgence of cases in the Philippines.
Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI) said in a statement Monday the number of confirmed COVID-19 patients in its referral facility, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Sta. Mesa Manila, has grown to 41 on June 5 from nine in March.
Probable cases have also expanded 12 times to 150 patients on June 5 from 12 patients in March.
To address the increasing number of COVID-19 patients, MPHHI said the facility has opened multiple wards for patient isolation and has deployed 48 additional nurses from the 15 other hospitals in its network.
MPHHI also owns Makati Medical Center, Cardinal Santos Medical Center, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, De Los Santos Medical Center, and Manila Doctors Hospital, among others.
Accredited laboratories of the Department of Health (DoH) has also given Our Lady of Lourdes a bigger allocation for COVID-19 test kits to accommodate the increasing demand in the facility.
“MPHHI, including (Our Lady of Lourdes), is one with the government in preventing the spread of the pandemic in the country,” MPHHI President and CEO Augusto P. Palisoc, Jr. said in the statement.
The DoH reported 653 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, raising the country’s total cases to 30,052. Of this, 1,169 have already died and 7,893 have recovered.
With the easing of the lockdown in Metro Manila, MPHHI said it is preparing to gradually return to normal operations in Our Lady of Lourdes, which would start allowing surgical procedures and face-to-face consultations.
MPHHI is under Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of three Philippine subsidiaries of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being PLDT Inc. and Philex Mining Corp.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., maintains an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group. — Denise A. Valdez
