Home care packages offered to COVID patients amid hospital bed shortage
By Jaleen Ramos

Patients who have mild symptoms of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are being offered home care packages amid the hospital bed shortage in the country.
"Meron naman po tayong mga ino-offer sa government, may mga home care package doon po natin sila nire-refer kung kakayanin po talaga sa bahay lang po mag-stay ang pasyente (We have offers from the government, we have home care packages there, we refer them if the patient can really stay at home), said Dr. Bernadette Velasco, operations manager of One Hospital Command Center, in an interview with DzMM Teleradyo on Tuesday, Sept. 7.
"Pero 'pag emergency cases po talaga, 'yun po talaga 'yung pina-prioritize natin na madala sa hospital. At least man lang ma-stabilize po para gumanda 'yung kondisyon ng pasyente (But when it comes to emergency cases, that's really what we prioritize to be taken to the hospital, so at least it can be stabilized to improve the patient's condition)," she added.
Velasco said they have been receiving between 480 to 560 calls a day for help.
She said patients were endorsed to local government units or barangay health emergency response teams first for monitoring while waiting for vacancies in hospital wards.
"Sa ngayon po, dahil po sa spike ng cases natin, medyo nahihirapan pa rin tayo na maghanap ng mga hospital (Right now, due to the spike in our cases, we are still having a hard time finding hospitals)," she added.
The Department of Health (DOH) on Monday, Sept. 6, reported 22,415 additional COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of active cases to 155,894.