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(FILE) TAKING A medical worker on duty at a hospital in the city of Mandaluyong. – CHILD JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines – The government’s One Hospital Command Center is currently facing “a lot of stress” due to the increase in COVID-19 cases in the country, with nearly 400 calls received daily, said treatment czar Leopoldo’s undersecretary of health Vega.
“Due to this increase, One Hospital Command is experiencing a lot of stress,” Vega said in an interview on the ABS-CBN news channel on Wednesday. One Hospital Command is a centralized COVID-19 referral center.
According to Vega, the center used to receive an average of 68 to 70 calls in February.
“But now we receive almost 400 calls a day. The number of agents who are going to refer patients to different hospitals is also a bit overwhelming, ”he said.
“This is one of the weaknesses we have and we seek the understanding and patience of the public that we are trying to further improve the command center to be able to respond and better serve the public,” he added.
More field hospitals
Vega added that the government is expanding bed capacity for COVID-19 patients by building field hospitals, the installation of which to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) would generally take 45 days.
“The one with the Pulmonary Center [of the Philippines] The 44-bed field hospital has just been operated on, ”he said.
The Dr. José Rodríguez Memorial Hospital in the city of Caloocan has also been expanded with a 44-bed field hospital, Vega said.
“This April 8 we are going to put into operation the modular hospital of the Quezon City Institute that will be administered by José Reyes [Memorial Medical Hospital],” he said.
“This is something that we are really trying to expand because the amount, especially the beds allocated here for COVID is not enough to cover the increase that we have. This is roughly more than what we saw in August 2020, ”he added.
Since last week, the country has been recording record numbers of new COVID-19 infections, with the highest being 10,016 new cases reported on Monday, March 29.
On Tuesday, the Philippines registered 9,296 additional cases, bringing the country’s total to 741,181. Of this number, 124, 680 are active cases.
/ MUF
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