MANILA - The National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City will only accept persons under investigation (PUIs) who need dialysis, and not patients positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), according to its medical director.

"Currently, NKTI accepts only kidney patients under investigation (PUI) who are dependent on dialysis. They are managed in tents situated around our Emergency Room. They are not admitted inside our main facilities to protect our immunocompromised patients especially our post-transplantations," Dr. Rose Marie Rosete-Liquete, executive director of NKTI, said in a statement Friday.

"We do not allow COVID-19 positive to pass through our stringent-barricade at the triage," she added.

Top medical institutions in Metro Manila earlier appealed to the Department of Health (DOH) to designate one or two hospitals for those diagnosed with the coronavirus, saying they are already swamped with COVID-19 patients and may soon run out of medical staff to quarantine, along with supplies and equipment.

• 'We feel we're on our own': PH hospitals appeal to gov't for help in COVID-19 fight

Shortly after, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said he approved the use of government hospitals for treating coronavirus patients.

These include a building of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital with 140 beds, and the Jose M. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium in Tala, Caloocan.

At least 9 doctors have died after being exposed to their COVID-19 patients. It is still unclear how many health workers are infected with the disease or have died due to it.

As of Friday, the Philippines has recorded 803 cases of COVID-19, with 54 deaths and 31 recoveries, according to the DOH.