MANILA - The National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) won't be turning away patients even after reaching full capacity due to an increasing number of COVID-19 and leptospirosis cases, its chief said Tuesday.
Executive director Dr. Rose Marie Rosete-Liquete said that although the hospital has limited admissions to emergency, urgent and renal cases, patients looking for treatment in NKTI won't be immediately sent away.
"If they come to us, we take care of them, yes, and stabilize them. Sometimes, there may be some cardiac patients that are not really renal. If we can arrange it with other hospitals or the Heart Center, we network with other hospitals in the NCR," she said in an interview with ANC.
"That's why we were able to transfer more or less stable patients to [Tala Hospital] and PGH also, and the National Center for Mental Health, and the National Children's Hospital for our leptospirosis, pediatric patients," she added.
The NKTI has 110 COVID-19 patients and 53 leptospirosis cases, Rosete-Liquete said earlier in the day.
The hospital has opened its gymnasium for leptospirosis patients, and converted other facilities for confirmed and suspected COVID-19 cases. The gym, previously used to treat up to 50 patients, can now only accommodate 35 cases to enforce physical distancing, she said.
According to Rosete-Liquete, they have installed dialysis machines for exclusive use of leptospirosis patients to avoid contact with COVID-19 patients.
Due to rising need for manpower to address the soaring cases in the NKTI, the hospital has asked the Department of Health for additional doctors and nurses.
The institution is only one of several hospitals in Metro Manila dealing with an influx of patients as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in the capital region.
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