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As the country’s daily count of new COVID-19 infections surpassed the 9,000 mark for the first time, the government said on Friday that two more makeshift hospitals should be ready by next month to accommodate the surge in cases and alleviate the load from major hospitals in Metro Manila, some of which have already reached full capacity.
Undersecretary of Health Leopoldo Vega said that two modular hospitals located in Quezon City and Batangas, named for their prefabricated structures, mostly reused cargo containers, would start operating in April.
The one in Quezon City will have a capacity of 110 beds and has been under construction near the Quezon Institute (QI) since November last year. It should be fully operational by April 8, said Vega, the “treatment czar” of the Interim National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization.
“It will be managed by José [R.] Reyes Memorial Medical Center and will treat moderate and severe cases, ”he said in an online information session.
The second modular hospital is a 44-bed facility across from Batangas Medical Center (BMC) and should be open by the second week of April.
The modular hospitals QI and BMC were the last “emerging hospitals” created by the Department of Health (DOH) in conjunction with the Department of Public Works and Highways.
Among those already in operation are the 250-bed COVID-19 ward built near East Avenue Medical Center last year, and another at the Dr. José N. Rodríguez Memorial Hospital (Tala) in the city of Caloocan.
Risk Ratings Vega said the department planned to install another hospital, one that can offer up to 380 beds, as the medical community struggles to find more space to treat COVID-19 patients.
“We need to expand our capacity,” he said. “We have current proposals that include increasing the capacity of modular hospitals and building more, for example at the Lung Center in the Philippines, as they have a large space there.”
Vega said that the use of COVID-19 rooms and isolation beds in Metro Manila had reached moderate to high risk levels.
According to DOH classifications, moderate risk refers to hospital utilization of 60 to 70 percent, while high risk refers to a utilization rate of 70 to 85 percent.
Hospitals that exceed 85 percent of capacity are considered “critical”.
Vega noted that among the cities of Metro Manila, Makati, Quezon City, Taguig and Manila they have reported a high level of admission to their respective COVID-19 districts.
‘Ringing non-stop’
DOH aims to decongest hospitals by transferring mild and moderate cases to isolation facilities and lower level hospitals, to make room for severe and critical cases in level 3 hospitals.
Level 3 hospitals are the most sophisticated institutions that have a high level of specialized intervention.
Vega also said that the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities in Metro Manila were almost full, at 78 percent of capacity.
He said the government’s One Hospital Command Center hotline had “been overwhelmed with calls” and that staff cell phones “were ringing non-stop.”
Almost 10,000
He said the center did not have call forwarding technology, but that staff had been trying to improve service by adding more lines and connecting calls to DOH’s separate COVID-19 hotline.
The country posted a new record for the daily COVID-19 count on Friday, with 9,838 new cases.
The number was around 1,000 more cases than the 8,773 cases reported Thursday. On Saturday last week, the OCTA Research Group warned that the country could have 10,000 new cases a day by the end of the month.
Friday’s figures also pushed the total burden of cases nationwide past the 700,000 mark.
Of the 702,856 infections, 109,018 active cases remained, of which the majority or 95.1 percent are mild, 3.0 percent are asymptomatic, 0.42 percent are moderate, 0.8 percent are serious and 0.7 percent are critical.
The DOH said 663 patients have recovered, bringing the total number of survivors to 580,689.
However, 54 patients died, bringing the death toll to 13,149.
For more news on the new coronavirus, click here.
What you need to know about the coronavirus.
For more information on COVID-19, call the DOH hotline: (02) 86517800 local 1149/1150.
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