Baguio hospital no more accepting non-residents sans acceptance letter

August 15, 2021 Metro BLISTT

BAGUIO CITY – The private-run SLU Hospital of the Sacred Heart (SLUHSH) will no longer admit non-Baguio residents if they are not on the hospital’s list of person to be attended to.
SLU-HSH Medical Director Dr. Paul Quitiquit in an advisory said, the hospital will not accept inbound referrals from patients outside of Baguio unless coordinated and with letter of acceptance from the SLU-HSH.
“Our borders will no longer allow patients coming in if they cannot show any acceptance letter from a hospital they are being referred to,” he added.
Quitiquit explained that the acceptance letter should be provided by the hospital and not by individual doctors. He
advised doctors to delay their appointments with their patients for the meantime with patients coming from outside
the city who comes in for checkup regularly and if their case is not an emergency situation.
The director also is advising patients who have scheduled chemotherapy to secure a hospital acceptance first. He said certification by a doctor alone would not be sufficient.
“Kindly coordinate first to avoid delay at the border or be refused entry,” he stressed. Quitiquit clarified that the measure is only temporary in response to the city’s preparation and prevention of the delta variant of the Corona Virus Disease (Covid 19).
Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong said that the city government is open for the extension of travel restrictions in the city.
He said this is to preempt the movement of people from Enhance Community Quarantine (ECQ) areas to the city and to delay the spread of the dreaded Delta variant.
“Extension of the restrictions is possible judging from the experience of other countries that had bouts with the Delta variant. It took these countries more than two months to have a downward trend in cases,” Magalong said. He added that the city will continue its strict entry rules for as long as it is needed.
Artemio A. Dumlao/ABN