The national government on Thursday (Aug. 6) launched the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC) at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) headquarters in Makati City, a system that will unify the country’s hospital response and maximize available health facilities for the fight against the pandemic.
“This One Hospital Command will maximize the use of our temporary treatment and monitoring facilities which have been built specifically for mild and asymptomatic cases,” National Task Force (NTF) Chief Implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez said.
He said the OHCC will oversee the coordination and the referral of COVID-19 patients to various hospitals and health facilities in the country.
“This system will help the government to efficiently oversee the coordination and referral of patients across health facilities and ensure that we have enough hospital beds for moderate and severe COVID patients,” he said.
Through the system, Galvez said the waiting time of patients for admission will be “significantly reduced,” adding that it also seeks to lower the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients as well as non-COVID patients.
MMDA ready to deploy personnel for COVID-19 response
Meanwhile, the MMDA is prepared to deploy its personnel to help with the response of the government against the coronavirus pandemic, Lim said.
In a press briefing on Thursday, Lim said the MMDA is ready to send its personnel to help other government agencies with the COVID-19 response efforts of the national government
“Marami tayong tao na pwede i-dedicate sa mga initiative na ito (We have many people who can dedicate to these initiatives),” Lim said, noting that the MMDA currently has around 8,000 personnel at its disposal.
“Wala tayong problema sa tao, although we had our share of the problem dahil may mga tao din tayo sa MMDA na nag-positive pero we have been addressing this effectively (We have no problem with manpower, although we had our share of the problem because we also have people in MMDA who have tested positive but we have been addressing this effectively),” he added.