By Hanah Tabios, Raymund Antonio, and Charissa Luci-Atienza  Indeed, “Serve the People.” To augment the tired and depleted workforce in the frontlines, the University of the Philippines-Diliman College of Science (UPD-CS) announced that they will be deploying students, faculty, researchers, and staff to testing centers to work alongside other frontline workers to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease in the country. Apart from the deployment of volunteers, the college said they are also collaborating with experts on disease transmission modeling and ventilator production. Some medical doctors have warned that the lack of medical equipment poses a “greater” threat to the infected patients than the virus. “My greatest fear is not about this virus but how are we so unprepared for it. Today, those that get worse can still get a ventilator and medical support and likely to survive. But in the next few days or weeks, our elders will not be so lucky,” said one of the leading doctors in a private hospital in Manila. The College of Science also lent its quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) machines for COVID-19 virus detection, as well as its 3D printers for the production of personal protective equipment (PPE) masks which are now running in short supply in many hospitals nationwide. For the past weeks, health workers have been improvising their own PPEs using all available materials such as trash bags for body suits and pieces of tissue paper for masks. “But most of all, we are proud of our people who will be joining the frontline in the fight against this virus. They will be trained and accredited by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and will be deployed to the different testing centers,” UPD-CS said. RITM is one of the facilities in the country conducting COVID-19 tests. Care where it is needed the most When medical intern, Dr. Nick Tan, got the pull out order from his superiors, he could not immediately leave the Philippine General Hospital (PGH). Tan could have decided to go home and take a much needed rest but he chose to stay put, no matter the cost, even if this could lead him falling into the enemy's hands -- the coronavirus disease. “Kawawa po iyong mga residente, iyong mga frontliners na sobrang kaunti na po sila. Sobrang naipit po sila sa trabaho, tapos ipu-pull out pa kami (The resident doctors would suffer, the number of front liners is much less. They got stuck in work, then we will be pulled out),” Tan said in an interview aired over Vice President Leni Robredo’s radio show. Tan was among the 137 of the 500 PGH interns who volunteered to remain on duty to augment the manpower at PGH. It was the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC) that gave the order on March 14 to pull out all medical interns from various hospitals in Metro Manila in the wake of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. 'Bayanihan' spirit The PGH has been designated by the Department of Health (DOH) as one of its COVID-19 referral hospitals in response to the virus outbreak. With the rising number of COVID19 patients, Tan knew the limitations faced by resident doctors and front liners. When he asked what he can do to help the patients and the remaining health workers in the hospital, he was told, ‘Look for like-minded individuals.’ I asked myself, ‘How will I do it?’ Will I PM (personal message) all of them or do I do it in our thread? I asked them to message me,” Tan said. Surprisingly, Tan got a positive response from his fellow interns. “Within 30 minutes, I had 30 sympathizers or people with the same sentiments. Then within two hours, we were around 60. After 12 hours, we were 137,” he said. Subsidized meals, accommodation Meanwhile, personnel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) who report for duty in the current public health emergency will be provided with subsidized meals, transportation, and accommodation arrangements. DSWD Secretary Rolando Bautista DSWD said these measures are necessary to address the welfare and workplace concerns of its personnel, especially those assigned on skeletal workforce duty, and ensure efficient operations while enhanced community quarantine measures are being enforced. Bautista also issued a directive to ensure the safety and security of on-duty personnel. “Staff who will render work at the DSWD Central Office will be provided with subsidized breakfast and lunch for the whole duration of the enhanced community quarantine, including on weekends. These include social workers, technical and administrative staff, security personnel, drivers, and janitorial and utility services staff,” according to a DSWD statement.