FULL CAPACITY. Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte bares on Monday (June 7, 2021) that the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) in the city have already reached full capacity. The national government earlier approved Davao City's request to be placed under MECQ due to a surge in Covid-19 cases. (Photo from City Information Office)
DAVAO CITY – Mayor Sara Z. Duterte on Monday said the city's temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) have already reached full capacity.
In a radio interview, Duterte said the city's TTMF has a total of 2,027-bed capacity where 1,466 of which are already being used by coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in isolation while the rest are utilized for all other cases which require quarantine.
Duterte said this is also the reason why there are some delays in picking up other Covid-19 positive patients.
“Yes, there are delays because per assessment, we are short on bed spaces,’ she added.
Mayor Sara said the city government is looking at other areas to establish new TTMFs to address the surge of cases in the city.
She added that the city government is reaching out to a doctor’s association for the conduct of telemedicine sessions that will assist Covid-19 positive patients who are waiting to be picked up and transported to a TTMF.
“For now that we have a surge of cases, we did two things - looking at other areas for TTMF establishment and we are working with a doctor’s association on how they can assist and guide patients on what to do in the event that they developed Covid-19 symptoms,” she said.
The modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) classification, she said, was requested by the city due to the surge in cases and the increase in the occupancy rate of the TTMFs and hospitals.
“The MECQ is the product of the discussion of the Davao City Covid-19 Task Force and those who have witnessed the occupancy rates of our TTMFs and hospitals. We requested it [MECQ] because we avoid congesting our hospitals and if that happens, many will die because they can no longer acquire the exact medical care needed both for Covid and non-Covid cases. So the Dabawenyos should understand that we are all doing this so that we will not overwhelm our health care system,” she added.
The city is under MECQ until June 20. (PNA)
