The facility in Malagos is already housing persons under investigation (PUIs) for possible exposure to COVID-19.
Dr. Annabelle Yumang, Department of Health XI regional director, said during the live press conference of the DOH on Wednesday that the rehabilitation center in Malagos caters to mild cases of PUIs.
As of now, Yumang revealed that there are 13 PUIs with mild symptoms who are staying at the said center. “We can put patients that do not have to go to the hospital anymore,” she said.
The Southern Philippines Medical Center is the only hospital in the city dedicated to treatment of COVID-19 patients, especially the severe or critical ones.
“All moderate, critical, severe (patients), are admitted to us as we are identified as one of the institution to cater to COVID-19 patients,” SPMC chief Dr. Leopoldo Vega said during the live press conference.
He said that PUI admission for moderate and severe will be at the hospital private wing, and for critical cases they will be sent to the intensive care unit or the isolation facility. As of Wednesday, three of the 43 PUIs remain critical with different cases of pneumonia.
He also said that the SPMC also has the reagents for testing. But they need to still send the samples to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine for confirmatory tests.
Meanwhile, the DOH recorded 158 PUIs in the region as of 9 a.m. of March 26. Of the total, 65 are admitted and 84 were discharged. There are already nine mortalities recorded, four of whom tested negative while the other five patients are still waiting for their test results from the RITM.
The DOH also recorded 12,316 overall total of persons under monitoring (PUM) in the region–7,357 are under observation and 4,958 already cleared. The confirmed cases in the region remain at six, with one patient already discharged.
