DOH sees ‘decongestion’ of COVID-19 referral center

After weeks of being swamped with hundreds of calls daily, the country’s COVID-19 referral center is now able to respond to callers more efficiently, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said more manpower and equipment were deployed to the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC), which was recently expanded into the One COVID Referral Center.

The center connects COVID-19 patients needing medical attention to healthcare providers. Those in need of help may call 02-886-505-00, 0915-777-7777, or 0919-977-3333.

“‘Yung OHCC ay... na-decongest ‘yung mga calls sa kanila. Hindi na po ganoon ang traffic sa pagtawag ninyo do’n sa OHCC,” Vergeire said in an online briefing.

(The calls to the OHCC have been decongested. The traffic is no longer as bad.)

Treatment czar Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega previously said the referral center was being swamped with up to 300 calls a day amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Last week, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said more phone lines would be added to accommodate more callers.

“Nagkaroon din ng epekto sa OHCC, to decongest the calls for OHCC, no’ng unti-unti pong nakapagbigay na ng institutionalized hotlines ang ating local governments,” Vergeire said.

(The OHCC was also decongested when our local governments started setting up institutionalized hotlines.)

The DOH earlier called on local governments to set up their own COVID-19 telemedicine hotlines to address the rise in calls.

Metro Manila residents can call the following numbers for medical assistance:

Additional beds, health workers

Meanwhile, Vergeire said the DOH is trying to find a “long-term solution” to address the need for more health workers, especially in COVID-19 hotspots like Metro Manila.

“Sa ngayon po (For now), we are trying very hard to negotiate for these healthcare workers that are needed for the different hospitals. We are deploying healthcare workers coming from other regions,” she said.

“Of course, additional beds are being planned. Meron na po tayong target (We have a target). Sabi natin, sa ICU beds, sabi ng mga eksperto (The DOH and experts said) at least 500 additional would be sufficient for now,” she added.

The Philippines has logged 936,133 COVID-19 cases with 779,084 recoveries and 15,960 deaths as of Sunday afternoon.—AOL, GMA News