More modular facilities to be set up amid surge of COVID cases —NTF

The government will set up additional modular facilities to accommodate COVID-19 patients who can no longer be admitted in hospitals due to overcapacity, the National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 said Sunday.

In a Dobol B TV interview, NTF spokesperson Retired Major General Restituto Padilla said several modular facilities have already been built within hospitals, and the Department of Public Works and Highways will set up more.

"Dito sa Quezon City makikita natin meron nang ibang itinayo galing sa DPWH. May mga itinayo na ginagamit ay mga container vans. Modular 'yan. 'Yung iba naman na mabilisan ay mga tent. Ito ay bilang karagdagan doon sa mga kinakailangang pasilidad na kailangan idagdag sa mga ospital na panay punuan na," he said.

(Here in Quezon City we can see that there are already some modular facilities from the DPWH. There are some facilities built from container vans. Others that were set up immediately are tents. This is in addition to the needed facilities to aid hospitals that are already full.)

"May iba na nakatayo. May susunod pang itatayo ang ating pamahalaan at ang lead dito ay ang DPWH," he added.

(There are some that have been put up already, while others will still be set up by the government to be led by the DPWH.)

The Department of Health (DOH) on Saturday said that they and their partners fast-tracked the delivery and assembling of modular tents in hospitals across the National Capital Region (NCR) amid reports of a lack of vacancies for COVID-19 cases.

According to the DOH, the following eight NCR hospitals had requested for modular tents:

• Jose R. Reyes Memorial Medical Center (JRRMMC)
• Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (Tala)
• Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center
• Tondo Medical Center
• National Center for Mental Health
• Lung Center of the Philippines
• National Kidney and Transplant Institute
• San Lazaro Hospital

The DOH said the tents for the JRRMC and the San Lazaro Hospital are scheduled for assembly on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization would provide four tents which would be used as local government unit-based triage areas.

Dr. Jaime Almora, president of the Philippine Hospital Association, said Wednesday that hospitals are already "overwhelmed and overran" in light of the surge in COVID-19 cases mainly due to their depleted and overworked manpower.

The severity of the situation prompted Almora to say that the country has already "lost" amid the war against COVID-19, he added.

Senators have been calling on the government to act on the depleting hospital resources in the country amid the surge of COVID-19 cases.

Senator Sonny Angara said there is an urgent need to increase the bed capacities in hospitals nationwide so that no patient will be denied admission, especially during critical periods like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The current surge in cases of COVID-19 and its new variants has given us a rude awakening as to how much more we have to go to strengthen our health system," Angara said.

"We must start to ramp up the capacities of our hospitals so that every Filipino who needs medical attention will get the care they deserve,” he added.

For his part, Senator Joel Villanueva said the government should come up with a "battle plan" to decongest hospitals in areas under enhanced community quarantine, saying that these facilities are being "completely overwhelmed" by COVID-19 cases.

He said these hospitals should not be left with their own devices to deal with the surge of COVID-19 cases.

On Saturday, the Philippines logged 12,576 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total tally to 784,043. —KG, GMA News