The Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) said that different medical facilities are already “overwhelmed” with patients as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases continue to surge in the country.
"Nakakalungkot nga ang mga mga nangyayari pero nangyayari na ang mga kinatatakutan natin mangyari. Ang mga hospital natin ngayon ay na... overwhelmed at na-overrun na (What’s happening is quite disheartening but what we have feared before is already occurring. Currently, our hospitals are overwhelmed and overrun)," said PHA President Dr. Jaime Almora in a television interview on Wednesday, March 31.
With the current COVID-19 situation, Almora believes that the country is starting to lose its battle against the raging pandemic.
"Isang taon na din mahigit na nakikipaglaban ang ating doctors, nurses, personnel sa hospital at sa panahon na ito mukhang natatalo na tayo sa dami ng ‘kalaban’ (Our doctors, nurses, hospital personnel have been fighting for more than a year and at this point, it seems that we are already losing due to high number of opponents)," he said.
Meanwhile, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire expressed disagreement with the statement of Almora.
“Huwag naman po nating sabihin na natalo na tayo. Paano na po yung ating mga kababayan na umaasa sa atin (Let's not say that we have lost. What about our countrymen who depend on us),” said Vergeire during a press briefing on Wednesday.
The Health official expressed optimism that the COVID-19 cases in the country will be brought down with the measures being implemented currently.
“Patuloy pa rin po ang trabaho ng gobyerno at ng Kagawaran ng Kalusugan para patuloy po nating maibigay ang mga pangangailangang medikal at pangkalusugan ng ating mga kababayan. Tutuloy-tuloy po natin itong pagbibigay at pagre-respond sa sitwasyon na ito and we will ensure na protected po ang public health (The government and the Department of Health continue to work so that we can provide the medical and other health needs of our countrymen. We will continue to provide and respond to this situation and we will ensure that public health is protected),” she said.
“Sana po ang ating mga ospital, public and private; ang ating mga ibang sektor ay tulong tulong tayo dito sa laban na ito. Nagawa na natin ito dati nung July and August. Kaya po natin gawin ito uli basta magtulungan tayong lahat (Hopefully our hospitals in public and private; our other sectors will help us in this battle. We have done this before in July and August. We can do it again as long as we all work together),” she added.
As of this writing, the Philippines' total number of confirmed cases stood at 741,181, wherein 124,680 are active cases. The tally of patients who have recovered is at 603,310 while the death toll is at 13,191 as of Tuesday, March 30. Since March 26, the daily number of infections is at 9,000.
“We are not saying we're perfect, we are not saying that we are excellent dito sa ginawa natin na response natin na ito. Marami pa po tayong kakulangan (We are not saying that we are perfect, we are not saying that we are excellent here in our response. We still have a lot of shortcomings),” said Vergeire.
“But as long as we can keep our cases for deaths low, as long as we can still manage the severe cases in our hospitals...iyan po ang pinakabatayan natin para masabi na kayang kaya natin at kaya natin maka alpas sa obstacle o dito sa pagtaas ng kaso this period of time (that is the main basis for us to say that we can can overcome the obstacles here with the increase in cases during this period of time),” she added.