Shortened shift for health workers eyed to reduce coronavirus infection risk

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) is considering shortening the work hours of healthcare workers who are on the frontlines of the war on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to lessen the risk of infection.

CHEERING THEM UP A nurse draws a smiley face on the back
of a fellow health worker’s protective suit before she enters a
COVID-19 ward at the Philippine General Hospital. —LYN RILLON

Shortening the shifts of the healthcare professionals would allow them to build up their resistance against the disease by providing them more hours of rest, and it would also lessen their exposure to the disease, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire explained on Thursday.

This initiative came from the recommendation of the Chinese medical experts who visited the Philippines to provide technical assistance to the government in addressing the pandemic.

“We are looking at these recommendations from Chinese experts. Isa sa kanilang rekomendasyon  ay (one of their recommendations is) we should be able to shorten the shifts of our workers,” she said told reporters in a virtual press conference.

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier expressed alarm over the “very worrisome” trend of the increasing number of COVID-19 infected Filipino healthcare workers , which was at least four times more than the average in the Western Pacific region.

Based on the latest DOH data, 1,062 healthcare workers have contracted COVID-19, Twenty six have since died.  Nineteen of the 26 casualties were doctors.

The DOH added that 422 of those infected are doctors, 386 are nurses, 30 are medical technologists, 21 are X-ray technologists, 51 are nursing assistants, and 152 are administrative workers and barangay health workers.

Vergeire contested claims that the high infection rate of healthcare workers stemmed from the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), saying that some of the healthcare workers contracted the disease outside of their workplaces.

She said that even though there is a lack of PPE, she doubts that any doctor would treat a COVID-19 patient without wearing any kind of protection, not unless the patient lied about their exposure history.

“I don’t think any doctor really would treat a patient without anything on, doon ako nagtataka sa balita na ‘yan,” Vergeire said.

(I don’t think any doctor would really treat a patient without anything on, that’s why i am puzzle by the report)

One of the possible reasons of COVID-19 infection of healthcare workers are their exposure to the coronavirus outside their workplaces,

Vergeire added that the some healthcare workers may have contracted the disease outside their place of work.

GSG