By Genalyn Kabiling
The country's testing capacity for the coronavirus has continued to increase as more testing facilities are established, President Duterte said in his latest weekly report to Congress on Monday.
President Rodrigo Roa Duterte
(TOTO LOZANO/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
The President has affirmed the government's commitment to strengthen the country's health system capacity through detection and isolation measures to ensure the protection of public health.
"While we are slowly reopening the economy, our commitment to protect and maintain the health of our people remains as top priority," Duterte said in his eight weekly report to Congress on his additional powers to combat the coronavirus under the Bayanihan law.
"Our capacity to conduct COVID-19 tests continues to increase," he said.
As of May 13, the President said a total of 189,469 tests have been conducted on 184,857 individuals. From May 8 to May 13, the average of conducted tests reached 7,809.
He said the Department of Health has accredited 11 more testing laboratories as of May 14 that pushed the total to 34 laboratories and hospitals activated for coronavirus testing.
Among the newly accredited facilities are the Jose B. Lingad Memorial Regional Hospital, Lung Center of the Philippines, Zamboanga City Medical Center, Cagayan Valley TB Reference Laboratory, Northern Mindanao Medical Center, and Ospital ng Palawan. He said the health department is evaluating 71 more proposed testing laboratories.
On test kits, he said the Food and Drug Administration continues to process and approve applications for test kits and other licenses related to the coronavirus response. As of May 13, at least 237 applications for test kits have been approved -- 101 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and 136 rapid test kits.
As of May 10, the President also said the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation has covered 15,899 coronavirus tests done by the Philippine Red Cross amounting to P55.65 million. The Philippine Coast Guard, which has been screening returning Filipinos, had so far administered PCR tests to 11,099 repatriated Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in quarantine facilities and airport terminals' One Stop Shops.
“Through the resilience and fortitude of the Filipino, I am certain that we will overcome these difficult times,” he said.
Health workers, hospital beds
Of the 5,601 slots approved by the Department of Health for the emergency hiring of health workers, Duterte said around 1,759 personnel have been hired and deployed to 31 hospitals and quarantine facilities. At least 1,255 will be assigned in Metro Manila.
Under the DOH's human resources for health deployment program, 756 nurses -- 167 in Luzon and 589 in Visayas and Mindanao -- have been temporary redeployed to augment the capacity of health care institutions.
"We continue to increase the capacity to handle COVID-19 related cases," the President said.
As of May 14, Duterte said there are 1,845 COVID-19 referral and accepting hospitals around the country, including 24 designated DOH COVID-referral hospitals and 49 other DOH accepting hospitals.
The country has a total of 13,408 dedicated beds for COVID-19 with an average of 39.7 percent occupancy rate. Of this number, there is 54 percent occupancy rate in DOH COVID-19 hospitals, 41 percent in other DOH accepting hospitals, 31.6 percent in local government units and other government hospitals, and 42.6 percent in private hospitals.
The total reported number of mechanical ventilators remains at 1,937 of which 81.3 percent are available.
Quarantine facilities, medical supplies
At least 52 evacuation centers converted as health and quarantine facilities are being used. It has so far served 844 persons.
A total of 22 state universities and colleges and 18 local universities and colleges are being used as quarantine facilities. "The CHED (Commission on Higher Education) is working with the DICT (Department of Information and Communications Technology) for the provision of free wireless networking technology in these facilities," he said.
To date, he said the Department of Education has approved the use of 2,402 school facilities for COVID-19 related concerns.
As of May 13, the President said the Bureau of Quarantine is manning 80 quarantine facilities, including 58 hotels and similar facilities, and 22 cruise ships, covering 12,476 Filipino repatriates.
Of the 32,264 repatriates from 362 vessels, 22,903 have completed their quarantine as of May 14.
Of the 8,130 land based repatriates, 7,446 remain in quarantine as of May 13.
Duterte said the Department of Tourism has screened and identified 705 hotels with 19,342 rooms ready to accommodate returning overseas Filipino workers. It also reached out to 941 non-accredited accommodation establishments with 6,451 rooms to serve as temporary quarantine centers for OFWs.
The President also said the government continues to mobilize its resources to provide medical supplies and equipment to frontliners. These supplies are either procured from agency budgets or distributed donations from the private sector.
From May 9 to May 13, he said 66,560 personal protective equipment sets procured by the government have been distributed to various health facilities.
He also said the PhilHealth has released P13.138 billion to 546 PhilHealth-accredited hospitals through its interim reimbursement mechanism measure as of May 14. It has paid 3,751,170 PhilHealth claims amounting to P36,728,255,308.87 with check payment dates from January 1 to May 13.