MANILA, Philippines — In a bid to give exhausted medical frontliners of Metro Manila the much-needed “timeout,” the government is looking to tap health workers from other regions to serve as the “substitution team” for health workers in the capital region besieged by a surge in COVID-19 cases.
“May mga kasamahan po tayo sa DOH (Department of Health) Regional Offices and hospitals na magpupunta po dito sa National Capital Region upang tumulong,” Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said in a televised Palace press briefing Monday.
“Mag-aanunsyo din po kami ng mga programa para sa mga private healthcare professionals na nasa ibang parte ng Pilipinas na gustong tumulong muna dito sa atin,” she added.
This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday night heeded the plea of the medical community to reimpose strict lockdown measures in Metro Manila and nearby areas to give them time to recuperate from exhaustion due to the continuous surge of COVID-19 cases nationwide, which already breached the 100,000 mark.
Metro Manila, Laguna, Cavite, Rizal, and Bulacan will be under MECQ from Aug. 4 to 18.
In the next 14 days, Vergeire noted that the government will ensure proper implementation of localized lockdowns in areas with clustering of coronavirus cases as well as the Health Department’s active case finding.
A “new strategy” will also be crafted with the help of the Alliance of Healthcare Professionals in line with the health workers’ plea, Vergeire said.
Currently, there are 103,185 confirmed cases of COVID-19 nationwide, more than half or 55,808 of which were recorded in Metro Manila.
The country’s death toll climbed to 2,059 while the recoveries reached 65,557.