DOH mandates public hospital to increase COVID-19 bed allocation
The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday said that it is mandating the public hospitals to increase their bed allocation for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients to up to 70 percent if there is an increasing volume of patients.
DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said they launched a new measure called “One Hospital Command” which aims to decongest medical facilities and to have an efficient referral system.
“Ang mga hospital kailangan 30 percent ang allocated na bed and then meron certain percentage for surge capacity ,” said Vergeire.
“Kapag nag surge, pwedeng mag increase to 50 percent. Pag kailangan pa rin, may increase until 70 percent of their bed capacity para doon ,” she said.
“Ang private naman, minandate dyan sa ina-amend natin na policy, 20 percent allocated beds for COVID; and then pag nag surge, additional 10 percent ,” she furthered.
Previously, the DOH mandated hospitals to allocate only 30 percent of their total bed capacity for COVID-19 patients. The revision in the guidelines comes amid reports of rising occupancy rates in hospitals in Metro Manila.
Vergeire said that the One Hospital Command also aims to establish better coordination between hospitals and the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) for the management of mild and asymptomatic patients.
“Meron tayong allocated beds for specific hospitals in our TTMFs para pag may dumating sa kanila na mild or asymptomatic, doon na nila papapuntahin …. So, that's part also of what we are doing right now so that we can further decongest our hospitals,” said Vergeire.
“Pag hindi nya ma-aaccept ang isang pasyente, meron silang magiging incident command system kung saan ibabato lang nila itong pasyente na pangalan, ang kaso, and all the details--and itong incident command system na ito, sya ang maghahanap ngayon para dito sa pasyenteng ito kung saan pwedeng dalhin among all of the hospitals here in Metro Manila --and it is going to be mirrored in the different regions of the country ,” she added.
Vergeire said that some hospitals will open their extra facilities to cater more COVID-19 patients. “And of course, we are going to provide incentives for hospitals to continue on expanding so that they can accommodate more patients in their hospitals,” she said.