By Raymund Antonio
The Office of the Vice President and its private partner distributed on Monday night the first batch of personal protective equipment (PPE) sets for health workers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Office of the Vice President and its private partner distributed on Monday night the first batch of personal protective equipment (PPE) sets for health workers amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. (OVP /MANILA BULLETIN)
The first batch consisted of 7,350 PPEs that will benefit 490 frontline health workers in 15 hospitals and community centers across Metro Manila, according to Vice President Leni Robredo.
“Patuloy ang pakikipag-ugnayan ng aming opisina sa Department of Health upang matukoy kung aling mga ospital ang kailangan i-prioritze na mabigyan ng karagdagang PPEs,” she said in a Facebook post.(Our office continues to coordinate with the DOH to identify the hospitals that need to be prioritized in the distribution of additional PPEs.)
The San Lazaro Hospital, Philippine General Hospital,and UP-National Institute of Health were among the first recipients of the PPE sets donated by Robredo’s office.
The others were Lung Center of the Philippines, Philippine Heart Center, Quirino Memorial Medical Center, East Avenue Medical Center, Philippine Orthopedic Center, and Veterans Memorial Medical Center.
Robredo said the PPEs for the COVID-19 front liners were delivered to the health facilities through the free services of logistics provider Transportify and Ninjavan.The OVP prioritized those attending to COVID-19 patients, patients under investigation (PUIs), and patients under monitoring (PUMs). Two more Filipinos tested positive yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 142.
The donations being received by the OVP, in partnership with the Kaya Natin! Movement, increase day-by-day for those who are on the frontlines in the battle against the spread of COVID-19.
As of Tuesday, Robredo said they were able to raise P17.3 million that will be used to buy 36,503 PPEs to benefit 2,433 frontline workers.
Her office allocated almost P6 million for the fund drive while Kaya Natin! Movement, an Angat Buhay partner, raised P11.3 million.
Robredo said they are looking for more suppliers to meet the high demand of the PPE sets.
“We are having problems with supplies,” the vice president noted.
Nevertheless, Robredo assured her office will provide the remaining 29,153 PPEs for health workers in the coming days.