Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 26) — A group of doctors on Monday appealed to the Duterte administration to listen to the recommendation of healthcare workers on the ground who can truly see the COVID-19 situation before deciding on the community quarantine classification for May.
The Philippine College of Physicians and the Philippine Hospital Association have recommended the extension of the modified enhanced community quarantine or MECQ over Metro Manila and other provinces amid the ongoing COVID-19 surge.
Despite the slight decrease in daily COVID-19 cases, PCP Vice President Dr. Maricar Limpin said hospitals haven’t seen the effect of the two weeks of ECQ then another 14 days of MECQ, so it’s only prudent to extend the lockdown.
She told CNN Philippines that most of the hospitals in Metro Manila are working beyond their capacity due to the sheer number of COVID-19 patients seeking help. Beds for COVID-19 patients remain fully occupied, while emergency rooms are accepting patients beyond their capacity — with hospital workers having to intubate patients in the ERs while waiting for COVID-19 beds to free up.
“We are not feeling that yet because if you notice, the number of cases everyday is still very high, around more than 8,000. This did not make a dent as far as the number of people that are being seen in the hospitals. It is still too early to lift the restrictions that we have right now,” she said in an interview.
The Health Department and OCTA Research Group are also batting for an extension of the MECQ over Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan before it expires on April 30.
Limpin urged the government to listen to the plea of doctors and health experts before making its decision for the month of May.
“If the current restrictions will be lifted right now in this coming May, from MECQ to GCQ, then that means we expect more cases to come in the next few weeks,” she said. “We pray that the government, particularly the top leaders of the country, will heed the call of the health professionals that it is really not yet time to immediately lift the MECQ that we have.”
IATF, the government’s pandemic task force, said it will look at the healthcare utilization in NCR Plus bubble and the “economic health” of the country before issuing the quarantine status for next month.
The Philippine College of Physicians also proposed to fix the foundation of COVID-19 response, which is contact tracing, in order to address the dire health situation.
“The start of everything is really in the contact tracing. That is the basics we need to do. That is still lacking. The first step is what we need to improve on and we need to improve it right now,” Dr. Limpin said.
