Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 19) – The government is better off treating COVID-19 patients in temporary hospitals instead of using hotel rooms, an industry group said.
President Rodrigo Duterte last week floated the idea of ordering the police to take over hotel operations and treat patients there while hospitals are full. However, hotel executives said that’s easier said than done.
Christine Ann Ibarreta, president of the Hotel Sales and Marketing Association, said their member establishments have “high occupancies” as overseas workers and other Filipinos coming home from abroad check in to spend days of quarantine before undergoing a swab test at least five days upon arrival.
While individual rooms and beds may be available in accommodation establishments, the Tourism Congress of the Philippines said their facilities are not ready for medical processes.
“Hotels are still pretty much on high occupancies for those being used as quarantine facilities. I think they should focus more on constructing field hospitals instead of commandeering hotels as those would be more suited to handle the medical requirements,” TCP President Jojo Clemente III told CNN Philippines. “Hotels are just rooms but are not equipped properly should emergencies arise.”
Manpower is another issue as hotel staff are not trained medical professionals.
“We are really in the process of recruiting manpower for the increased allocation and for the modular hospitals built,” Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega, head of the One Hospital Command Center, said in a text message, adding that 60% of the 3,510 positions for health workers in Metro Manila have been filled through emergency hiring.
The agency is also counting on the deployment of medical professionals from other regions to man the frontlines in the NCR Plus bubble, where infections are surging.
Meanwhile, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said 21 hotels used as isolation centers within Metro Manila and Calabarzon are 70% full, with 650 rooms still available.
The Tourism chief said the opening of a 500-bed temporary hospital within Luneta Park in Manila will boost heath care capacity, but it won’t be ready to accept patients until next month.
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With some hotels housing non-critical patients to decongest hospitals, Clemente said it should still be done under DOH supervision “to ensure that the appropriate care is being given.”
