100 doctors, nurses from Cebu to help man NCR hospitals —Duque

Medical workers from other regions are set to augment the depleted manpower in hospitals in the National Capital Region, which is facing a surge in COVID-19 cases, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said Wednesday.

Interviewed on Super Radyo dzBB, Duque said these additional medical workers will come from provinces that are not experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases.

He said a batch of about 100 doctors and nurses from Cebu is scheduled to be sent to Metro Manila to augment manpower both in public and private hospitals.

"Ganun talaga, tulungan lang tayo dito kasi hindi kakayanin at the current human resource capacity," he said, noting that many frontline medical workers have gotten infected with COVID-19 while performing their duty.

Although many medical frontline workers have already been vaccinated against the coronavirus, Duque said it does not guarantee that they will be totally safe from infection.

"Kailangangang sumunod pa rin sila sa ating quarantine protocols [they still have to follow quarantine protocols]," Duque said.

According to OCTA Research, hospital occupancy will remain in critical levels until the end of the week despite the continued implementation of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the NCR Plus bubble.

Due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, the national government placed Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna,and  Rizal or NCR Plus under ECQ from March 29 to April 4 with a new set of regulations. The implementation has since been extended until April 11.

Under ECQ, only authorized persons outside residence (APOR) including essential workers are allowed to go outside their homes.

The Filipino Nurses United and the Alliance of Health Workers has warned that the healthcare system was on the verge of collapse amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Philippine Hospital Association said hospitals had already been "overwhelmed and overrun" amid the surge of cases mainly due to their depleted and overworked manpower.

However, Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega has denied that the health system was losing the battle against COVID-19.  --KBK, GMA News