HEALTH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire urged hospitals and medical centers to reserve beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients to severe and critical cases.
“We can still see hospitals admitting asymptomatic and mild patients. We therefore encourage our hospitals to admit severe and critical patients only,” she said.
She reiterated that COVID-19 patients who need minimal medical attention should be referred to lower-level facilities.
“Cases of asymptomatic and mild cases may be referred to Level 1 facilities and in temporary treatment and monitoring facilities,” she said.
Vergeire issued the statement as 236 hospitals are already under the “critical risk” classification in terms of healthcare utilization, with 25 located in the National Capital Region (NCR).
Healthcare utilization refers to isolation, ward, and ICU beds as well as mechanical ventilator dedicated for COVID-19 patients.
Aside from hospitals, also nearing full capacity are the emergency field hospitals (EFHs) of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC).
In a statement, the PRC said its EFHs at the National Kidney Transplant Institute and Lung Center of the Philippines are nearing full capacity.
Red Cross deployed a 100-bed capacity EFH at the Lung Center and a 20-bed capacity EFH at NKTI during the COVID-19 surge last April.
These served as extensions for LCP and NKTI, thus allowing them to handle more cases in need of immediate hospital care.
The Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala Hospital) said its hospital bed occupancy rate remains under 50 percent despite the surge in COVID-19 cases.
In a televised public briefing, Tala Hospital Medical Director Dr. Alfonso Victorino Famaran Jr. said they only have 252 admitted COVID-19 patients out of 520 beds allocated.
“This is a pure COVID-19 hospital that caters only to moderate to critical COVID-19 patients,” said Famaran.
“We accept COVID-19 patients regardless where they come from, as long as they are referred by the One Hospital Command Center,” he added.
Bataan province is providing additional hospital beds amid the continuing rise of COVID-19 cases in the province which is under the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) restriction.
During the “Laging Handa” press briefing, Bataan provincial government spokeswoman Angel Ortiz Ruiz said said the Bataan General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) and some private hospitals heeded the call of Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia for additional beds for COVID patients. — With Victor Reyes
