Bodies have piled up in the hallway of a morgue facility in one of the Philippine's major hospitals that is involved in the fight against the coronavirus. This happened due the increase of COVID-19 deaths.
Dr. Dennis Ordoña, East Avenue Medical Center's spokesperson, said that the piling up of the bodies is due to the hospital not having sufficient equipment such as freezers to store additional human remains.
According to Ordoña, the hospital morgue is built for only 5 patients. The highest number that they've recorded so far is 20 remains which have not yet been picked up. There are bodies that have started to smell and they admit that the stench reaches other areas of the hospital.
Bodies pile up in PH hospital
The hospital made the confirmation after Filipino news anchor Arnold Clavio posted on his Instagram account about what was allegedly going on inside the hospital in Metro Manila. Clavio claimed that someone he knows from the frontline told him that dead bodies are littered along the hallway of the hospital. In one ward, there are 15 to 20 patients who tested positive for COVID-19. The three other wards are full of PUIs.
Ordoña confirmed to CNN Philippines that Clavio was referring to the East Avenue Medical Center in his post. But he refuted the claim made by Clavio's frontline source, as he stated that the bodies were not located in the hospital's hallway but in the morgue hallway, which was a separate facility.
Ordoña also added that none of the bodies have tested positive for coronavirus so far, they will wait for test results to know if they have the virus, and for now, they are considered as persons under investigation or PUIs. The spokesperson said that the remains of a dead person only stay in the morgue for a short while, then they are collected from the hospital after six hours for cremation or for temporary storage in a freezer. He added that the process is mandatory, whether or not the bill of the deceased patient has been settled.
As of 4 p.m on April 11, Ordoña says 6 bodies are still in the morgue and they are waiting for it to be collected. The spokesperson said that the hospital is open for donations of body bags, personal protective equipment, and freezers to store human remains. He added that the hospital will not cease operations.
Deaths counts are not ordered to stop
The director of EAMC Dr. Alfonso Nuñez said that they did not get any order from the Quezon City local government and Health Secretary Francisco Duque III to stop counting the deaths related to COVID-19.
Nuñez added that they are continuously recording and reporting COVID-19 related deaths and sending them to the Health Department's Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit. The hospital made the statement after Clavio also posted on his Instagram account that they were ordered not to report the real number of deaths.
Because of Clavio's controversial post, the Health Department stated that all hospitals and health centers are mandated to report on consultations and admissions and the status of the patients.
