By JULIA MARI ORNEDO, GMA News
Published April 5, 2021 3:31pm The Department of Health (DOH) said on Monday that the government had enough funds to augment the health workforce amid a new surge in COVID-19 cases but lamented that only a few health workers were “heeding the call.” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire added that the DOH had given hospitals enough funds to hire health workers directly. Over 7,000 have been hired since the DOH launched its emergency hiring program for health workers at the start of the pandemic last year. “Unfortunately, the challenge still would be the uptake. We have the money to hire but not many health workers are heeding the call maybe because of fear or some are really deployed already in other industries,” Vergeire said in a Palace briefing.
The private hospitals in some provinces near the National Capital Region (NCR) have started seeing high admissions of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines, Inc. (PHAPi) said.
Published on: Saturday, April 03, 2021
By: Manila Times
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Medical personnel wearing protective clothing work to treat patients inside a tent at a Covid-19 isolation facility, in Quezon city, Metro Manila.
MANILA: Hospitals in Metro Manila continue to grapple with the surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) cases, with some forced to turn away patients seeking treatment in overflowing emergency rooms, according to the head of the country’s largest private hospital group.
Early this week, the Department of Health (DoH) reported 9,296 new infections, the fifth straight day that cases reached more than 10,000.
Because of the rising number of cases, 76 percent of intensive care unit (ICU) beds are occupied, and 68 percent of isolation beds and 59 percent of ward beds have been utilized in the National Capital Region (NCR or Metro Manila).
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“In the National Capital Region, at least 20 hospitals, these are big hospitals, who are already at the critical level of occupancy. That means, their occupancy rate is more than 85 percent,” said PHAPI President Dr. Jose De Grano in an online forum.
Meanwhile, some private hospitals were at “high-risk” level, said De Grano.
“We have 23 facilities that are now at the high-risk level. It means, their occupancy rate is from 70 to 85 percent,” he noted.
In a radio interview on Wednesday, Department of Health (DOH) Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega said the government’s One Hospital Command has been receiving a lot of calls from individuals seeking to be referred to a hospital.