The healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) in the National Capital Region (NCR) is now at 57 percent, an official of the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday, May 3.
“The HCUR, which is the aggregate of the utilization of intensive care units (ICU), isolation beds, and mechanical ventilators, is now low, it’s 57 percent,” treatment czar and Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said in a public briefing.
Based on the DOH data as of May 2, 70 percent of the ICU beds in Metro Manila were being utilized, 50 percent of the isolation beds were in use, 62 percent of the ward beds were occupied, while 54 percent of the ventilators are being used.
The healthcare capacity of medical facilities in the region has also been scaled up in order to accommodate more patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Vega said additional intensive care unit (ICU) beds were deployed in various hospitals in the NCR, boosting the total ICU bed capacity of the region from 781 beds in March to 1,148 beds to date.
“That is the reason why our intensive care unit utilization have dropped slightly compared to last month which reached the high-risk category or between 78 and 80 percent),” Vega said.
“Now it is hovering between 70 to 71 percent because we also know that patients in the intensive care units have a longer turn around time,” he added.
Moreover, the health official reported that the isolation bed capacity in the metropolis has been increased following the deployment of additional 554 isolation beds.
“What we are doing is making sure that our intensive care unit does not reach a critical risk position where it could be very hard for the healthcare workers and even the patients to access and get specialized care,” Vega said.
The treatment chief said construction is ongoing for a 110-bed capacity modular field hospital in the Lung Center of the Philippines and a 220-bed capacity modular field hospital in the National Center for Mental Health.
Vega said a modular hemodialysis facility in the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) will be inaugurated on Tuesday, May 4, to cater kidney patients undergoing hemodialysis.