Nat'l patient center notes upward trend in number of calls

The National Patient Navigation and Referral Center (NPNRC), formerly the One Hospital Command, on Friday said there is an increase in the number of calls it is receiving from patients seeking medical assistance.

During the day's Public Briefing, NPNRC operations manager Bernadette Velasco said they received an average of 250 to 500 calls last week, most of them from the National Capital Region and Calabarzon.

"Sa ngayon po, ina-obserbahan natin ‘yung dami ng calls natin. Medyo pataas po ‘yung mga calls na nare-receive natin, requesting po sa isolation facilties, 'yung nag re-request po ng mga hospital admission and even mga teleconsultation or mga outpatient department po na scheduling," she said.

(Right now we are observing the number of calls and they are increasing, requesting isolation facilities, hospital admissions, and even teleconsultations, or scheduling for the outpatient department.)

Velasco said the calls are almost equally divided into non-COVID and COVID-19 patients.

According to Velasco, most of the calls from non-COVID patients were about inter-facility transfers and those that need special care such as stroke patients, people undergoing dialysis, or pediatric patients.

Meanwhile, she reiterated that the NPNRC’s hotlines are for medical assistance and appealed to the public to refrain from doing prank calls.

"Don't call po kung wala naman tayong kailangan na medical assistance or just para lang mangloko po tayo," she said.

(Don't call if you don’t need medical assistance or just to make a prank call.)

Velasco said the hotline numbers are 0919 977 3333 (Smart) or 0915 777 7777 (Globe). They may also be reached through 1555. —KBK, GMA News