Rappler on Covid nurses in diapers
In September 2021, the Philippines news site Rappler reported that nurses caring for Covid-19 patients at one hospital in General Santos City were being forced to work 12-hour shifts without any breaks, to save on expensive PPE. That meant the nurses had to wear adult diapers.
September 15, 2021 – Today the Philippines-based news website Rappler reported that nurses at one local hospital were being required to wear adult diapers so they could care for Covid-19 patients for 12 hours straight, without breaks. Rommel Rebollido’s piece was “General Santos hospital workers look for jobs elsewhere.” It said that the policy, at Jorge P. Royeca Memorial Hospital in General Santos City, was to avoid using more expensive personal protective equipment (PPE). That can only be worn once because of the risk of infection. But as a result of this and other poor working conditions, the piece said, many nurses had left. Nurses also reportedly said they were required to stay at the hospital working for 12 straight days, then stay there for seven more days of quarantine, before being allowed to go home for a week. The head of the hospital, Ryan Aplicador, apparently did not respond to a request for comment, but did respond on Facebook, where he described the story as “malicious.” The article also described the situation at nearby Saint Elizabeth Hospital, where CEO Antonio Veneracion said Covid-19 patients were straining its resources, leading to shortages of nurses, other health workers, and key supplies. That hospital had a list of at least 40 Covid patients who were waiting for a bed. This relatively short piece does a very good job of highlighting the terrible conditions that nurses have been asked to endure during the Covid pandemic, and the understandable response of many: they leave for other jobs. We thank Rappler and Rommel Rebollido.
See Rommel Rebollido’s article “General Santos hospital workers look for jobs elsewhere,” published September 15, 2021, in the Filipino publication Rappler.
