MindanaoToday.com | JRBGH operating over its capacity
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
A public hospital in Cagayan de Oro which the state’s health agency accredited in August last year as a Level-II health facility has been operating beyond its 175-bed capacity due to overwhelming volume of patients.
Medical doctor Ferdinand Miranda, acting chief of the city government-operated Justiniano R. Borja General Hospital (JRBGH), in a “Meet the Press” on January 3, 2024, said they have been providing medical and health services to over 400 inpatients and 600 outpatients every day last year.
“Being a public hospital, we do not refuse admission of patients,” said Miranda, but there were instances when patients are referred to the Department of Health’s well-equipped and fully-manned Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC).
In July last year, JRBGH’s Health Analytics Section reported that the city hospital was operating 237-percent over its 100-bed capacity, as an accredited Level-I hospital then. It had 1,310 inpatients and 886 outpatients from the city and from nearby localities in Northern Mindanao region.
The JRBGH chief said they have employed triaging in its nine-bed capacity emergency room (ER) where only six nurses have been shifting to care patients whose medical conditions may be classified as emergency, emergent, urgent, semi-urgent, and non-urgent cases.
He assured that patients triaged as emergency cases get medical attention within 15 minutes, emergent cases in 30 minutes, and urgent cases in an hour. It could take a three-hour waiting time for patients classified as non-urgent.
These, he said, explain why some patients at the ER may not be attended to at once. And the number of patients is expected to increase even more this year.
To address the congestion at the ER area, Miranda said a 150-bed ER building has been proposed, the funding of which already in the 2024 JRBGH annual budget. It is just awaiting authority-to-construct from the DOH Northern Mindanao office.
He said they have extended medical consultation services for outpatients from six (6) hours to 14 hours with more health personnel, particularly medical specialists, upon the Mayor Rolando Uy’s approval.
“In the past, the cut-off for OPD (Outpatient Department) services end at 2 pm, the rest of the afternoon for recording. Now, OPD is open until 10 pm,” Miranda said, prompted by surge of patients to over 600 from an average of 100 a day prior to the pandemic.
He said they run out of medicines, particularly those classified under the Philippine National Drug Formulary (PNDF), earlier than expected this year primarily because of the spike of outpatients, but there is enough for inpatients. Patients need to procure medicines, including non-PNDF ones outside.
To minimize the congestion, Miranda said they have a one-patient-one-watcher policy. They have also directed personnel from Malasakit Center, Medical Assistance to Indigent Patients (MAIP) and PhilHealth desks to personally generate the information they need from the patients. This will eliminate queuing.
Miranda said they are hoping that once the city-wide health system, under the Universal Health Care, is in place and three of city government’s JRBGH-attached health facilities, the annex hospitals in Lumbia and Tablon villages, as well as the House of Hope custodial facility are fully operational, their main hospital may no longer be as crowded.
Currently, the City Hospital-Lumbia is operating as an infirmary, the City Hospital-Tablon has to resolve road-of-way issues for its electricity and water connections, and an agreement between the city government and the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro for the House of Hope facility for psychiatric patients. (MT)
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