Bacolod mayor asks NIATF to help Negros Occidental handle COVID-19 patients

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia. Photo from Evelio “Bing” Leonardia Facebook page

BACOLOD CITY –– Citing a shortage of medical personnel in private hospitals, the mayor of this city has requested the National Inter-Agency Task Force (NIATF) Against COVID-19 to send an augmentation team to the provincial capital of Negros Occidental to help handle coronavirus disease patients.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said hospitals in the city need at least six doctors for the Midway Referral Facility, 288 nurses for the city’s emergency treatment center and isolation facilities, 18 radiology technicians, 26 medical technologists, 24 respiratory therapists, and 30 housekeeping staff.

“The serious shortage of nurses and healthcare workers, especially in private hospitals, is still a problem. In this connection, may I, therefore, humbly request for your assistance by providing us the additional personnel required to capacitate and enable the full operation of hospital isolation units,” Leonardia said in his letter.

City Administrator Em Ang, executive director of the city’s Emergency Operations Center, said the availability of functional hospital isolation rooms remained to be “the biggest challenge” for Bacolod as it continues its contact tracing and targeted testing to identify and isolate COVID-19 cases.

The construction of the Midway Referral System in the 32-room isolation facility by the Department of Public Works and Highways in Barangay Alijis is among the measures aimed at addressing hospital congestion, she said.

As of October 4, there were 154 COVID-19 patients in Bacolod hospitals, making the capacity utilization rate reach 77 percent.

ZB