Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 9) — It may be the last week of operations of the Bayanihan E-Konsulta, the free teleconsultation service launched by the Office of the Vice President to help decongest hospitals, if the country’s COVID-19 situation improves further in the coming days.
Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday said if cases continue to decline and hospitals are able to manage the influx of patients, her office may decide to focus its efforts on other pandemic-related initiatives.
“Titignan namin ‘yung week na ‘to. ‘Pag bumuti ‘yung sitwasyon, baka hintuin na namin after this week,” she said in her weekly radio show BISErbisyong LENI.
[Translation: We will monitor the situation this week. If it gets better, we may end the Bayanihan E-Konsulta after this week.]
Since the launch of the platform in early April, Robredo said her office has been swamped with requests from people seeking medical assistance, with messages averaging by the thousands on a daily basis. For instance, on Saturday alone, she said they received over 28,000 messages.
Nearly 900 doctors have volunteered to provide free medical services for the project, on top of almost 2,900 non-medical other personnel who have signed up to help, according to Robredo. But even with the significant number of volunteers, she said the teleconsultation platform has demanded much manpower, at the expense of other programs.
“‘Yung problema rin namin, ang laki-laking operations nito. Na-po-prohibit din kami gawin ‘yung iba naming gustong gawin in response to COVID, kasi halos lahat na personnel namin, involved na rito,” she said. Over 100 members of her staff are currently helping run the Bayanihan E-Konsulta, Robredo added.
[Translation: Another problem we have is this is a massive operation. We are prohibited to do other things we want to do in response to COVID, because nearly all of our personnel are involved in this.]
The vice president assured, however, that other forms of medical assistance from her office will remain. She said they will consider and focus their resources on other things urgently needed amid the pandemic.
In its latest monitoring report also released Sunday, the independent research group OCTA said the daily average number of new cases in the National Capital Region is 61% lower compared to the peak of the surge from March 29 to April 4. It said the NCR is expected to log an average of less than 1,900 new cases per day by May 14 amid the prolonged modified enhanced community quarantine.
It also reported improvements in the hospital COVID-19 bed occupancy in the region, which has decreased to 50%, from the 56% recorded last week. Over the same period, the ICU utilization rate declined to 67% from 71%.
On receiving COVID-19 vaccine
In the radio show, Robredo also said she plans to get vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as the country has enough supply to accommodate those who come before her in the priority line.
Robredo said she is part of the priority group A3 or persons with comorbidities. This group comes next to healthcare workers (A1) and senior citizens (A2).
“Hindi pa ako pumila kasi kulang pa ‘yung supply… Kung marami ng supply, pipila na rin ako,” she said.
[Translation: I haven’t lined up yet, because the supply is not yet enough. If it becomes sufficient, I will also line up.]
Over the past two days, the country received some 3.5 million additional vaccine doses, including 1.5 million of the Sinovac brand and a little over 2 million of the AstraZeneca. Prior to these arrivals, around 4 million doses from different sources were already delivered to the Philippines, of which over 2 million have been administered since the start of the rollout in March, based on the latest government data.
