Upgrade hospitals nationwide to beef up COVID-19 response, gov’t urged

MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker asked the national government to plan for the upgrade of all Level 1 hospitals in the country to Levels 2 or 3 as the country continues to combat the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Deputy Speaker and Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman on Monday said that the move would enhance the country’s response to the global health crisis.

Hataman explained that a Level 1 hospital has no intensive care units (ICU) and only treats patients requiring minimal care, and thus cannot adequately attend to COVID-19 patients.

Meanwhile, Level 2 hospitals have ICUs that can treat critically ill patients, with physicians specializing in pediatrics and gynecology, Hataman said.

Level 3 hospitals have additional high-level specialty intervention such as dialysis treatment.

“Our hospitals are our frontlines and our healthcare workers are our frontliners in this war, but we cannot continue operating on the same level of health emergency response as we do now. It is just not sustainable, especially if our situation worsens or we see a sudden spike in the number of cases,” Hataman said in a statement.

“If we can upgrade all these Level 1 hospitals and make them ‘COVID-ready’ in the immediate future, complete with the training of medical professionals, we increase our arsenal against this disease and any other pandemic that comes our way,” he added.

Citing data from the health department in 2018, Hataman said there are 783 Level 1 hospitals in the country compared to only 318 Level 2 hospitals and 122 Level 3 hospitals.

“While our frontlines – the hospitals and other healthcare and LGU facilities – have their hands full with the rising number of COVID-19 cases, our government planners should be busy drawing up the blueprint for a ‘pandemic-ready’ Philippines. Kailangan na natin itong paghandaan habang lumalaban tayo sa sakit na ito (We need to prepare for this while we are fighting this pandemic),” Hataman said.

The lawmaker added that the Department of Health (DOH) should also draft a masterplan “to ease our hospitals and healthcare facilities overwhelmed by the high number of COVID-19 cases.”

Hataman said this includes the gradual increase in in the number of government hospitals handling COVID-19 patients.

As of April 26, there are 7,579 COVID-19 cases in the country, with the death toll reaching 501.

GSG