Cordillera hospitals set up triage areas for Covid-19

By Liza Agoot  

BAGUIO CITY – The Department of Health in the Cordillera Administrative Region announced government hospitals have set up triage areas.

DOH-CAR officer-in-charge, Dr. Amelita Pangilinan said last week the move is to prevent the exposure of other patients in the hospitals to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).

All persons wanting to go to government hospitals will be checked at the entrances of the compound and those who exhibit any of the symptoms of the Covid-19 will be led to the triage area, Pangilinan said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Thea Pamela Cajulao, Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) infectious disease specialist, said persons who experience cough, fever, and difficulty of breathing may consult physicians in any hospital like the BGHMC but have to screen at the triage area.

"All those patients with these symptoms will be brought to the garden where consultation will be done," Cajulao said.

The triage area at the hospital garden will operate from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. while another area has been put up near the emergency room that will cater to possible Covid-19 patients who will arrive between 4:01 p.m. to 6:59 a.m.

Dr. Ricardo Runez, BGHMC chief, said the establishment of the triage area is an important precaution in preventing other patients to get infected.

"Sa entrance palang ng BGH, we already screen patients so they don't come in and mix with all the other patients inside (From the entrance of BGH we will already screen patients so that they will not come in and be mixed with all the other patients)," Runez said.

BGHMC, a DOH-run hospital was identified by the health department as a sub-national referral laboratory center for Covid-19.

Runez said they hope to soon receive the testing kits from the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) when they get their supplies.

“We have the machine to test Covid-19 but we are waiting for the testing kits,” Runez said.

Meanwhile, Dr. Paul Quitiquit. the medical director of Sacred Heart Hospital (SLU) which is owned and managed by the Catholic church, said they have established triage area which comes in two stages.

“We have the primary triage and the secondary triage where we will bring persons who exhibit more of the symptoms,” Quitiquit said.

He said they have locked down the hospital, prohibiting visitors to the facility as a precaution.

"We locked down the hospital, in such a way that there is only one entrance although the emergency exits will still be manned. In that way it will be much easier for us to handle the entry of people coming to our hospital," Quitiquit said. (With reports from Jephryll Jallen Epler, OJT/PNA)