BY JOSEPH PEDRAJAS
An official of the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) has expressed alarm over the situation in the facility over the past several weeks as it has reached its full capacity for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and dialysis patients.
Dr. Rose Marie Rosete-Liquete, executive director of NKTI, in an open letter posted on the institution’s Facebook page on Monday, said that “for many weeks now,” the COVID-19 facility at the NKTI has had 100 percent occupancy and that dialysis patients from other centers keep flooding its already congested emergency room.
Aside from that, she said, 174 of its health care workers have been tested positive for COVID-19 as of July 20. According to her, NKTI’s manpower “is dwindling” because of this.
“We could have threatened to close down our facility like other government offices, but we could not as almost all patients who come to the Institute are dialysis patients. And a day or two of missed dialysis would mean death,” she wrote.
As such, Rosete-Liquete called on the public, particularly the suspected, probable or non COVID-19 patients, to “find a way to transfer” to a hospital of their choice to avoid further congestion at the NKTI. (Joseph Pedrajas)
