Gov’t urged to come up with ‘battle plan’ to decongest hospitals amid ECQ

Senator Joel Villanueva is calling on the government to come up with a "battle plan" to decongest hospitals in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), saying these facilities are being "completely overwhelmed" by COVID-19 cases.

Villanueva, who chairs the Senate labor committee, said these hospitals should not be left with their own devices to deal with the surge of COVID-19 cases.

He noted that this "battle plan" to help hospitals in distress was absent in the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) guidelines for the ECQ in Metro Manila, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, and Cavite from March 29 to April 4.

“Mukhang ito po ang missing link doon sa IATF advisory. Sana naman maihabol ito kaagad. If hospitals were ER patients, this is the urgent cure and care they require,” the senator said in a statement Monday.

(Perhaps this is the missing link in the IATF advisory. I hope this can be added into the guidelines as well. If hospitals were ER patients, this is the urgent cure and care they require.)

Villanueva lamented the situation in many hospitals in Metro Manila, many of which he said are already hanging "No admission for COVID patients" signs.

He cited, for instance, the situation at the Chinese General Hospital, Makati Medical Center, Ospital ng Makati, Tondo Medical Center, University of Perpetual Help Dalta Medical Center Inc., Metropolitan Medical Center, the Medical City, St. Luke’s Medical Center and Lung Center of the Philippines, where bed capacity is almost at 100% occupancy.

He also mentioned data from the Department of Health on March 26 which showed that 40 of the 159 hospitals in the National Capital Region are now in critical state with more than 85% occupancy of their ICU beds, isolation beds, ward beds and the use of ventilators, while 25 are considered “high risk” with 75% to 80% occupancy.

If the ECQ was called to ease the burden of the medical frontliners, "then why is there no concrete program for their alleviation?” Villanueva asked.

“While the Holy Week ECQ is a circuit breaker to stop the surge of patients, the problem our hospitals are facing cannot be solved from the demand side alone,” he said.

“Halimbawa po: Paano po makakatulong ang gobyerno sa pag-restock ng mga hospital pharmacies ng mga COVID-19 medicine tulad ng remdevisir at tocilizumab? Kailangan na po ba nating mag-SOS sa mga kapitbahay natin sa ASEAN? Siguro isa po ito sa mga bagay na dapat isinama ng IATF sa kanilang guidelines sa pagpapatupad ng ECQ,” he added.

(For example: How can the government help in the restocking of hospital pharmacies with COVID-19 medicine like remdevisir at tocilizumab? Do we need help from our neighbors in the ASEAN? Maybe this is also something that IATF can add to its guidelines in implementing the ECQ.)

On Sunday, the Philippines recorded 9,475 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total tally to 721,892.

This marked the third straight day when more than 9,000 new infections have been reported. — Erwin Colcol/RSJ, GMA News