MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) on Monday appealed for a reinforcement of healthcare workers from nurses who are currently employed in the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), and call centers.
PHA President Jaime Almora said nurses in hospitals are already exhausted, especially with the increase in COVID-19 cases being observed recently in the country.
“Pagod na po ang mga nurses. Talagang kulang kulang ang mga nurses. Kaya kailangan na talaga ng reinforcement ng mga nurses,” he said over ABS-CBN’s Teleradyo.
(Our nurses are already exhausted. There are not enough nurses. They need reinforcement.)
“Ideally, ang reinforcement manggagaling sa ibang agency, ang reinforcement manggagaling sa military tsaka police kasi nasa kanila na ang karamihan sa mga nurses namin,” he added.
(Ideally, reinforcement should come from other agencies, from the military and police, because most of our nurses are employed there.)
He also said that reinforcement, not timeout, is the solution for the situation of healthcare frontliners who are already overwhelmed with the rising number of COVID-19 patients.
According to Almora, some nurses want to be employed in the AFP and PNP because of higher salary.
“[We need] reinforcement po sa uniformed services, sa call centers. May mga nurses na dati namang nagtatrabaho sa hospital… Kung pwedeng ipahiram lang muna at talagang kawawang kawawa na ang mga nurses natin sa mga hospitals,” he added.
(We need reinforcement from nurses in uniformed services, call centers. There are nurses who are previously working in hospitals… Maybe we can borrow them for now because the situation of our nurses in hospitals is already pitiful.)
The Department of Health said on Thursday that the 64 percent occupancy of intensive-care beds for COVID-19 patients in hospitals in Metro Manila, the epicenter of the pandemic in the country, is already “alarming.”
The DOH added that the government may refer patients to hospitals in Central and Southern Luzon if the hospital space availability in the capital region would worsen.
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