A nurse at Philippine General Hospital (PGH) shared how she was able to save 35 babies from the fire that hit the hospital last Sunday.
According to Kathrina Bianca Macababbad, a pediatric nurse at PGH, her duty started as an ordinary routine for the night shift.
“Nagsimula po ‘yung duty ko na parang ordinaryong duty lang. Ordinary routine na tuwing nightshift ay nagpapaligo ng baby,” she said.
But when midnight came, the door was opened, and a colleague told her that they should evacuate the building the hospital is already on fire.
“Bianca, ready na for evacuation. Nasusunog ang ospital (Philippine General Hospital),” she said.
She said she could not believe what was happening at first, but when she started to smell the fire, she immediately looked at her patients.
She then realized that only one of the babies could breathe on his own. The others are connected to ventilators.
“Doon pa lang parang mangiyak-ngiyak ako na isa lang ang makukuha ko sa mga pasyente ko,” she said.
Nurse in PGH saves 35 babies from fire
She decided to take that baby and also looked for other babies they could evacuate. All of them took a baby with them and brought them to the open area.
She then realized that almost half of the 35 babies were connected to oxygen and ventilators.
She and her colleague Jomar Mallari went back to evacuate the babies one at a time because they have to ventilate manually.
“Thank you, Lord, for the unwavering strength and courage! Di ko alam kung saan nanggaling iyon pero wala akong naramdamang takot sa dibdib ko,” Bianca said.
Meanwhile, the emergency room of the Philippine General Hospital (PGH) is still closed after a broke out at the hospital’s third floor on Sunday.
Del Rosario added the hospital’s operations are now getting back to normal.
“Almost all patients are back to their rooms and wards,” he said, except for those who were transferred to other hospitals, such as newborn babies and a few private patients.
“‘Yung mga nailipat sa chapel, sa corridor, ER, halos naibalik na po namin sila lahat,” he said.
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