BACOLOD CITY - Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia reiterated his request for augmentation personnel from the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) against coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to address the serious shortage of nurses and other healthcare workers (HCWs) in private hospitals.

This was disclosed by City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the City's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) on Tuesday, October 6.

Leonardia said hospitals in the city needed six doctors for the Midway Referral Facility, 288 nurses for the city’s emergency treatment center and isolation facilities, 18 radiology technicians, 26 medical technologists, 24 respiratory therapists, and 30 housekeeping staff. 

Leonardia recently wrote to Secretary Carlito Galvez, chief implementer of the National Action Plan against COVID-19, to reiterate his urgent concern, after personally asking for his help on the matter.

“The serious shortage of nurses and healthcare workers especially in private hospitals is still a problem,” Leonardia said in his letter to Galvez.

He noted that the availability of functional hospital isolation rooms remains to be “the biggest challenge” for Bacolod as it continues its contact tracing and targeted testing to identify and isolate COVID-19 cases.

The mayor asked for assistance to capacitate and enable the full operation of hospital isolation units here amid the rising number of COVID cases here.

Meanwhile, the construction of the Midway Referral System in the 32-room isolation facility being built by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) in Barangay Alijis, is among the measures aimed at addressing the problem of hospital congestion. 

As of October 4, there were 154 COVID-19 patients admitted at Bacolod hospitals, increasing the capacity utilization rate reach to 77 percent.

Bacolod has recorded 4,213 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 2,982 recoveries, 90 deaths, and 1,141 active cases, as of October 5, based on the records of the City Health Office.