UP exec urges changes to COVID-19 response as frontliners seek relief

The Philippines’ healthcare system will collapse if not for health workers, an executive of the University of the Philippines (UP) said Sunday as he made several recommendations to the government’s pandemic response.

“The healthcare workers are our health heroes! We lose them, the health system collapses,” UP Executive Vice President and UP COVID-19 Pandemic Response Team chairman Dr. Ted Herbosa warned on Facebook.

“We need a health human resource reserve pool so that tired and fatigued HCWs can be given a respite,” Herbosa added.

Medical groups earlier urged the government to reimpose the enhanced community quarantine over Metro Manila to arrest the continued surge in infections.

Herbosa outlined his recommendations to the government’s inter-agency COVID-19 task force as President Rodrigo Duterte and some Cabinet members are set to meet later on Sunday to respond to the medical community’s call for a “time out.”

Herbosa urged the government to recall its decision to allow clinics offering aesthetic services and cosmetic dentistry, gyms, and internet cafes to reopen in a limited capacity.

He also said strict enforcement guidelines for minimum health standards should be released to the public and pushed for a better implementation of the test-trace-isolate strategy.

“More intensive care unit beds, more high flow nasal cannulas, Remdesivir, Avigan, Dexamethasone + One Hospital Command to ensure only moderate, severe and critical [cases] go to hospitals,” he added, referring to COVID-19 therapy drugs and the Department of Health's (DOH's) strategy to decongest hospitals.

Herbosa also called for “intensified local lockdowns” and stricter implementation of the general community quarantine with new quarantine passes.

He also said all benefits must be given to healthcare workers such as “free and frequent COVID-19 testing, additional compensation via hazard allowances, dormitories/hotels, [and] transportation.”

The UP executive also called for the establishment of a Hospital Emergency Incident Command System.

The DOH earlier vowed to work with the Office of the President in pushing for the time out sought by medical workers.

The Philippines has logged over 100,000 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday afternoon, with the number of new cases reaching record-high levels four days in a row.  — DVM, GMA News