Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 6) — Newly-appointed Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega has been assigned to head a new unit to coordinate with hospitals, amid reports of rising occupancy rates for COVID-19 patients.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Monday denied reports that hospitals are running at full capacity for coronavirus cases following a meeting of officials of the Department of Health (DOH) with hospital directors on the same day.
He clarified that this only meant that hospitals have maximized their currently allotted beds for COVID-19 patients.
Vega, who was appointed to the DOH from his stint as medical director of Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao, has since been named as head of a new unit called Hospital One Incident Command.
Roque said in his regular briefing that Vega will serve as point person in checking the critical care utilization rate — one of the two measures in assessing the risk of infections in a city or province — as well as hospital care capacity of the country.
Among the hospitals who said they will stop accepting new COVID-19 patients are the Chinese General Hospital in Manila and the Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City in the past two weeks.
Hospitals are told to dedicate up to 30 percent of their total beds for COVID-19 patients, Roque added.
“Hindi pa po nabi-breach ang 30 percent na ito, kasi marami po lalong-lalo na ang mga pribadong ospital, less than 30 percent ang kanilang ina-allot dahil sa tinatawag na absorptive capacity,” he added. “Humingi po ang mga pribadong ospital na kung pupuwede, payagan muna sila hanggang 20 percent at tsaka na po mag-i-increase.”
[Translation: This 30 percent threshold has not been breached because a lot of private hospitals allotted less than 30 percent due to their absorptive capacity. The private facilities asked that if possible, they will first allot 20 percent of their beds before slowly raising the share.]
Roque said this proposal is still being discussed.
The DOH data show that 137 facilities have reached danger levels with more than 70 percent of beds occupied. Meanwhile, 148 facilities are between 30-70 percent filled, while 728 others are at the “safe” level.
In Metro Manila, Roque said critical care units and equipment in Metro Manila are 63 percent occupied, which he classified as under moderate risk. The region remains under general community quarantine for another week, pending the updated decision of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases and of President Rodrigo Duterte.
There are 44,254 COVID-19 cases in the country as of Sunday following a record-high 2,434 new infections in a single day. However, Roque insisted the situation is still manageable as most patients experience mild or no symptoms at all, with just 0.1 percent in critical condition.
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