East Avenue Medical Center
MANILA – To avoid 100 percent utilization of hospital beds dedicated for patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19), the Department of Health (DOH) has proposed the increase of bed allocation in public and private hospitals nationwide.
In a message to reporters Wednesday, the DOH said the One Hospital Command was created to address the increasing demand for Covid-19 beds and to have a unified, comprehensive, and coordinated response to the current pandemic.
"We have proposed to increase the Covid-19 bed allocation from 30 to 50 percent in public hospitals, and from 20-30 percent in private hospitals in order to avoid reaching 100 percent utilization rate and to ensure that our hospital facilities will be adequately prepared and are not overwhelmed by a surge of cases," the DOH said.
Apart from the One Hospital Command Program, the DOH has started with the implementation of Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic or CODE protocol in coordination with local government units.
"With CODE, we are taking a more proactive role in finding Covid-19 patients in local communities to be able to control the spread of the disease with immediate case management. Through CODE, we can aid the implementation of the One Hospital Command strategy as there would be more rationalized referral and admission of individuals in hospitals and Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities," the DOH said.
On Wednesday, the reported 3,462 new Covid-19 infections, raising the country’s overall tally to 115,980.
The National Capital Region (NCR) has the highest new infections of 2,434 followed by Laguna with 105; Rizal with 101; Cavite with 73; Cebu with 62; and the rest from the other regions.
The health authorities also reported 222 new recoveries and nine deaths. These figures increased the number of recoveries to 66,270 and the number of deaths to 2,123.
Last Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte approved the recommendations to revert NCR, Bulacan, Cavite, Laguna, and Rizal to modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) amid the rising Covid-19 cases. (PNA)
