Duque: One Hospital Command Center to be expanded amid surge in COVID-19 cases

There is a plan to expand the One Hospital Command Center to cater to the needs of more COVID-19 patients especially now that there is a resurgence of infections, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Tuesday.

At the House Committee on Health meeting, at least two lawmakers, Stella Quimbo and Angelina "Helen" Tan, raised complaints on the accessibility of the said referral center.

Duque said the national government is doing its best to beef up the capacity of the One Hospital Command to ensure that it can provide an effective navigation and referral system to COVID-19 patients.

"'Yun pong One Hospital Command [Center] is now planning to expand into becoming a one COVID referral network para talagang the whole system of delivery of the healthcare services ay may integration noong system so from the lower level facilities beginning with the BHERTs, beginning with the isolation treatment facilities to the infirmary to the district hospitals and so 'yan po ang gagawin," Duque said.

(The One Hospital Command [Center] is now planning to expand into becoming a one COVID referral network so that a whole system of delivery of the healthcare services will be integrated from the lower level facilities beginning with the BHERTs, beginning with the isolation treatment facilities to the infirmary, to the district hospitals.)

Quimbo shared that over the weekend, she and her staff called the One Hospital Command as they were looking for two beds for the lawmaker's two constituents who needed to be hospitalized.

"We kept calling the One Hospital Command Center because we we're trying to look for two beds because two of our constituents felt they really needed hospitalization but none of us was able to successfully talk to anyone so either busy or wala pong sumasagot [or no one's answering]," Quimbo said.

According to Duque, complaints against the One Hospital Command Center have already been raised to him. He noted that the referral center has been receiving over 300 calls on a daily basis in the past weeks.

"I brought this to the attention of the One Hospital Command [Center] to which I was told... I think they are in the process now of expanding their capacity in terms of managing more calls," Duque said.

Treatment czar Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega earlier bared that the One Hospital Command Center has been receiving 280 to 300 calls per day, which is higher compared to an average of 66 calls when there was no surge yet. — RSJ, GMA News