Northern Samar 1st District Rep. Paul Daza urged Wednesday (July 29) the Department of Health (DOH) to set up a Central Coordinating Office that would monitor the overall utilization of hospital beds dedicated for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, and identify the hospitals that can accommodate the critical care patients.
He made the suggestion, as the DOH warned that the country’s healthcare system could get overwhelmed soon as the overall utilization of hospital beds intended for coronavirus patients is already in the “warning zone.”
“If all hospitals in NCR (National Capital Region) get full, there must be a Central Coordinating Office that can identify hospitals in other region regions that can absorb critical care patients,” Daza said in a text message, a day after Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire bared that Metro Manila is "in the danger zone with an occupancy rate of 82.2 percent.”
"DOH needs to do both local and regional networking with all public and private hospitals,” he stressed.
Vergeire had noted that Cordillera Administrative Region as well as Ilocos, Central Luzon, Calabarzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Davao regions are now in the “warning zone.”
Daza said he is counting on the DOH to immediately fix its referral system for both public and private hospitals to ensure that hospitals are not overcrowded.
“We need that as a patient traffic controller to match patients, and determine where there's available beds,” he said.
Vergeire earlier said through “One Hospital Command System”, they intensify the coordination of hospitals with temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) so that we can transfer cases that no longer require a higher level of care.
To win the battle against COVID-19, Daza said the government should ensure that there is enough supply or provisions of ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE), and medicines, and there is no shortage of medical workers.
BHW partylist Rep. Angelica Natasha Co agreed with Daza, saying that the number of hospital beds, medical supplies and equipment, and medical personnel should be augmented.
“The possible breakdown of the country’s health system is not far from the truth. We do not have enough beds and do not have enough manpower,” she said in a Viber message, even as she batted for a salary hike for doctors and nurses.
“Let us increase their compensation and send out protective gears to them. Make them feel safe by providing them with whatever is needed — PPEs, immune boosters, necessary vaccines, and just compensation,” Co said.