VP suggests medical reservists complement ‘One Hospital Center’ by attending to mild cases

The government’s One Hospital Command Center in Metro Manila drew praises from Vice President Leni Robredo, but she said “complementary service” should also be available to those who don’t need hospitalization.

One of which, Robredo suggested, was the deployment of personnel who will attend to people who show coronavirus disease symptoms in their homes, so they don’t have to go to hospitals.

“Parang sinabi ni Presidente (Duterte) na i-aactivate iyong sa military na mga medical reservists. Baka puwede ito iyong gawin, na iyong mga medical reservists, mag-serve sa mga communities (The President said the military will be activated to become medical reservists. We could make the medical reservists serve in the communities),” she said.

The vice president underscored the need to beef up the health workforce, citing the overburdened hospitals in the region exceeding the capacity to care for COVID-19 cases.

President Duterte is mulling the deployment of military reservists to help the government in battling the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Kasi marami rin kaming natatanggap na request na, ’may COVID symptoms, saan kami pupunta? Tumawag na kami, hindi kami napupuntahan kasi maraming inaasikasong iba’ (Because we have also received a lot  of requests stating - ‘we have COVID symptoms, where would we go? We have already called, they were not able to attend to us because they were taking care of many people’),” she said.

“Ang iba kasi, nakaramdam ng ubo, nakaramdam ng fever, nagwo-worry na, pupunta na kaagad sa ospital (The others who have cough and fever, they would worry, they would go immediately to hospitals,” she noted. 

Robredo also pushed for additional triage check-up areas in the communities to complement the One Hospital Command Center.

The government opened the command center, located at the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) headquarters in Makati City to provide coordinated care for COVID-19 patients.

This will monitor the capacity of the country’s private and public hospitals, thus, COVID-19 patients would know where to go for medical care and treatment.