By Dana Eunise Cruz
Hospitals are still safe places for patients who test negative for COVID-19, and it all boils down to how these buildings are designed and constructed, a hospital contractor said.
NCR and nearby provinces are currently under an enhanced community quarantine due to a new surge in COVID-19 cases. This made many hospitals reach “critical” occupancy by the end of March, as CNN reported on March 20.
Despite this, government officials are still telling hospitals to make more space to accommodate COVID-19 patients, as reported by Inquirer.net on March 12. With the high surge of cases since the pandemic began, many non-COVID patients are becoming hesitant to enter hospitals in fear of being “collateral damage” of the surge. Several stories of non-COVID patients dying due to possible delayed care surfaced online while hospitals dealt with the surge, Philippine Star said in their report.
Given these risks, hospital contractor Thaison Builder and Developer Inc. said hospitals are still safe for all patients, whether they tested positive for COVID-19 or not. They said the design and structure of hospital buildings are the reasons they think so.
“Hospitals are built in a fashion that ensures certain departments and stations are spaced apart, so that if needed, each area is already ‘socially distanced’ from each other,” Thaison’s president and CEO Arthur Cantor said in a release.
He also said that hospitals consult specialists and infectious disease experts while constructing their buildings. Contractors’ active role in shaping hospitals helps ensure that it is built with a layout that prevents cases of person-to-person transmission.
Many hospitals are also built with areas that are intended for people who need to be in isolation, away from the rest of the facility.
“In a number of provincial hospitals, a separate building has been allotted to [COVID-19] patients, which are cared for by a team of doctors, nurses, and technicians that only treat [COVID-19] patients while they are there. This isolation strategy limits the spread of infection,” he stated in the release.
Cantor also said negative pressure in operating rooms and intensive care units is important in modern hospitals. Rooms with negative air pressure prevent potentially contaminated air and other dangerous particles from flowing outside into non-contaminated areas.
“Hospitals are designed to withstand critical conditions like a pandemic, just as hospital workers are required to follow up-to-date safety protocols such as screening patients before admission, disinfecting surfaces, and wearing protective equipment at all times,” he stated.
“Hospitals were built to be safe for all patients,” Cantor said.
He also reminded people that if at-home treatment can still be done to solve one’s sickness, then they should avoid taking trips to the hospital. But if a visit to the emergency room is really necessary, people have to stop letting fear get in the way of their health.
