A quick-thinking doctor transformed a car into a makeshift isolation room, since even outdoor tents intended for COVID-19 patients awaiting hospital admission are now filling up.
Since Saturday dawn, a 66-year-old lady suffering from low oxygen levels had to be attended to inside the family’s car located just outside the emergency room of a private hospital in Dasmariñas, Cavite.
Doctor Jamie Amposta had to improvise in providing emergency treatment to the woman, whose oxygen level dropped to 70% from a healthy range of 95% or higher.
Amposta and her team brought out a towering oxygen tank and constructed temporary IV fluid stands by using tubes and medical tape to stabilize the patient.
“I guess kasi ‘pag doctor ka, ‘pag nandyan talaga ‘yung need, your adrenaline will just rush up and keep up with the need,” Amposta said in an interview.
“For me, it’s really mentally tormenting kasi doktor ako pero hindi na ako makapanggamot at this point kasi ‘yung laging dahilan, wala nang paglalagyan –– which is totoo din naman,” she added.
With the country averaging 10,000 new cases of COVID-19 per day, Amposta said she fears more deaths are inevitable as the health system is overwhelmed.
Her contraption may have taken her patient out of a dangerous situation, but not everyone may be able to surpass a similar ordeal.
“I’m devastated as a doctor kasi it’s so hard for me to see patients gasping for air and wala akong magawa,” Amposta said. “This is not something I would suggest at all, pero if it’s one way to save one more life, I would have done it again.”
