The Department of Health (DOH) is planning to transfer Covid-19 patients experiencing mild symptoms and those who are asypmtomatic to quarantine facilities or the temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs) to help decongest hospitals in the National Capital Region.
In an online media forum, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said “extracting” mild and asymptomatic patients in hospitals is one of the strategies that the government will be implementing.
Vergeire said the team for the One Hospital Command (OHC) headed by treatment czar Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega is continuously conducting hospital visits to check on the status of different hospitals in NCR.
She said that Vega is checking if the hospitals, both private and public, are complying with the mandated bed allocations and how many hospitals are overwhelmed.
“Based on the assessment done as they made the rounds of the hospitals, almost 50 percent of those who are admitted are mild and asymptomatic,” Vergeire said adding that one of the strategies, as part of their response since there is this kind of “congestion.”
She said that another strategy is to identify the facilities where they can transfer these mild and asymptomatic patients.
“Because, as what I have said awhile ago, as we extract mild and asymptomatic patients, there should be a place for us to bring them,” she said.
She said the Department and Public Works and Highways Secretary and isolation czar Mark Villar has “committed that there would be facilities that would be opened up in two weeks time.”
“And of course, we are also making sure that our referral system would be in place to facilitate the traffic of patients so that all can have an access to the hospital,” she said disclosing that they are also coordinating with the hospitals in the nearby regions to accommodate patients from NCR if needed.
HCUR
As of March 23, the DOH said that 86,200 (12.72 percent) are currently admitted/isolated in the country. Of the number 84,635 (98.18 percent) asymptomatic, mild, or moderate.
Data from DOH also showed that seven of the of the 17 regions increased in hospital care utilization rate (HCUR) since February 17. The NCR showed the highest increase in utilization at 21 percent.
As of March 22, 43 percent or 12,749 Covid beds were occupied out of 29,788. For intensive care unit (ICU) beds, 52 percent or 1,163 out of 2,237 were occupied, 40 percent or 3,987 ward beds out of 10,029 are currently being used, and 43 percent or 7,599 isolation beds were occupied out of 17,522.
The DOH noted the number of confirmed severe and critical cases may not necessarily correspond to occupancy of ICU beds and mechanical ventilators as suspect and probable cases in severe or critical condition also utilize these resources.
On Tuesday, the DOH said that Secretary Francisco T. Duque III has given instructions that all the needs of NCR hospitals be identified in order to help them facilitate the expansion of their allocated Covid-19 bed capacities to 30 percent for private hospitals and 50 percent for public hospitals in accordance with the surge capacity allocation specified under DOH Administrative Order 2020-016-A.
“The DOH continues to urge all individuals experiencing mild symptoms to go to dedicated isolation facilities instead of hospitals to help free up space in hospitals for those who most need it,” the DOH said.
The DOH did not provide a list of hospitals now in critical or full capacity and those with very low Covid bed occuppancies.
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