MANILA, Philippines — Some 22 nurses of Makati Medical Center (MMC) are under home quarantine after exposure to COVID-19 patients, the hospital's medical director said.
Dr. Saturnino Javier, in an interview with ANC's "Headstart" Thursday morning, said some nurses have been cleared for work as the duration of observation has lapsed.
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"Usually, we'd want them to quarantine for 14 days although there have been some guidelines already coming out," Saturnino said in a telephone interview with ANC.
According to Javier, if the health worker does not develop symptoms between five to seven days and the level of exposure is low, they can be cleared to to back to work provided that they wear a mask.
"We cannot strictly enforce the 14 days (quarantine). Otherwise we will run out of personnel," Javier said in a mix of English and Filipino.
6 to 8 MMC staff exposed to virus-infected Pimentel
Javier also noted that about six to eight MMC personnel, including doctors, residents and techinicians have been exposed to Sen. Koko Pimentel, who earlier announced that he was positive with COVID-19.
Pimentel accompanied his wife, who was about to give birth, to the hospital on Tuesday night.
The MMC medical director said there could be more staff exposed to the senator who breached the hospital's strict infetion and containment protocols.
"There could be more because we now have to determine the second layer of staff who came into contact with those people," Javier said.
On Wednesday night, MMC released a statement denouncing Pimentel's breach of protocols for entering the premises of the hospital's delivery room and exposing health workers to possible infection.
"He (Pimentel) added to the burden of a hospital trying to respond in its most competent and aggressive manner to cope with the daunting challenges of this COVID-19 outbreak. More than anyone else, Mr. Pimentel, should have realized the ardent desire of every well-meaning Filipino and every dedicated healthcare institution to contain the spread of the infection," the statement read.
Earlier this week, MMC also announced that it will no longer admit COVID-19 cases as the hospital has reached its full capacity.