The Emergency Room (ER) of the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center (OMMC) has reached full capacity over the past two days amid a continued rise in patients seeking medical attention for suspected and confirmed cases of leptospirosis.
In a statement on Wednesday, August 26, OMMC said its emergency room had reached “full capacity" due to the increasing number of patients requiring immediate medical care.
“The Emergency Room of the Ospital ng Maynila Medical Center (OMMC) is currently at FULL CAPACITY (300%) in the past two days due to the continued increase in patients requiring immediate medical attention, including suspected and confirmed cases of Leptospirosis,” the hospital said.
The hospital urged patients requiring emergency care to remain patient as medical personnel attend to them or arrange transfers to nearby hospitals with available capacity.
OMMC also said ambulances are ready to assist in transferring patients to other facilities when necessary.
Meanwhile, the number of leptospirosis-related deaths in Manila increased by two on Wednesday, bringing the total fatalities to 17 from January 1 to August 26.
According to the daily W.I.L.D. disease surveillance update of the Manila Health Department (MHD) and City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (CESU), 89 new leptospirosis cases were recorded on Wednesday.
This brought the city’s total number of leptospirosis cases to 356.
Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease commonly associated with exposure to water or soil contaminated with the urine of infected animals, particularly rats.
The development comes days after the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) also announced on August 23 that it had reached full bed capacity amid a surge in leptospirosis cases and a high volume of patients in its emergency room.
