Resignation of health workers hit St. Luke’s Medical Center

By: Cathrine Gonzales, INQINQUIRER.net, 26 Aug 2021

MANILA, Philippines — St. Luke’s Medical Center (SLMC) fis acing manpower problems following the resignation of a number of health workers, a facility official said Thursday.

“Workforce is the problem now. I’ll give you an example. From an original 66 nurses in the emergency room in [Bonifacio] Global [City], we are now down to only 43,” SLMC Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer Benjamin Campomanes Jr. said in an interview on ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.

“Talagang nagbawas ng tao (The manpower was reduced). The reason for that is resignations. Maraming pumunta na sa ibang bansa (Many of them are now abroad),” he added.

Aside from resignations, Campomanes said some of the nurses are under quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 patients.

On Wednesday, SLMC said COVID-19 wards and critical care units of the hospital are running at full capacity. It added that there are also patients in critical condition waiting for urgent admission in the emergency department.

Campomanes said the full capacity status was both for the Taguig and Quezon City branches of the hospital.

“Given this current situation, we kindly request those experiencing COVID-19 symptoms to seek immediate care from other healthcare institutions for the meantime,” SLMC added.