DOH says calls to COVID-19 referral center now ‘decongested’

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) said Monday that the traffic of calls to the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC)  is now “decongested,” weeks after the COVID-19 referral center found itself swamped with hundreds of calls.

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the government has already augmented the manpower and equipment at the OHCC.

“’Yung One Hospital Command ay nagkaroon sila ng, nadecongest ang calls sa kanila, hindi na ganoon karami ang traffic sa pagtawag doon sa One Hospital Command,” Vergeire said in an online press briefing.

(Calls to the One Hospital Command have been decongested. The traffic of calls is not that heavy anymore.)

“Namanage na. Nakapagdagdag na rin tayo ng mga tao. Nakapagdagdag din tayo ng equipment so nakakabetter access na ang ating ma kababayan sa One Hospital Command,” she added.

(The situation was already managed. We were able to add manpower there. We also added more equipment so the people can now have better access to the One Hospital Command.)

Vergeire said one of the factors that helped the referral center have less number of calls is institutionalized hotlines of local government units to “navigate” patients and direct them if they should be taken to a hospital or a temporary treatment and monitoring facility.

“Unti-unti ay nagkakaroon tayo ng ganitong mga sistema (Slowly, we are having these systems) to further decongest our hospitals and to further manage incoming calls and needs of our citizens when it comes to our hospitals,” she assured.

In March, Health Undersecretary and treatment czar Leopoldo Vega said the referral center is facing “a lot of strain” due to the surge of COVID-19 cases. He said the center was receiving nearly 400 calls daily, significantly higher than around 70 calls in February.

The command center may be reached through 02-886-505-00, 0915-777-7777 or 0919-977-3333.

Below are the COVID-19 hotline numbers in Metro Manila, according to DOH: