DOH in Central Visayas hikes beds for COVID-19 patients in hospitals

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CEBU CITY––The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) has increased the beds allocated for COVID-19 in hospitals and reactivated the isolation centers as cases continued to rise.

In a virtual press conference Monday afternoon, DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas said they needed to prepare the facilities for an overflow of cases in the different hospitals.

He said the occupancy rate, however, remained manageable.

“We have not reached the critical levels yet. Our health system is still not overwhelmed, and we are still responding adequately even with the rising number of cases,” Bernadas said.

He stressed that there are still no cases of the highly contagious Delta variant in Central Visayas.

At present, the region has a 52-percent occupancy rate in both government and private hospitals, which are located mostly on Cebu island.

Bernadas said DOH hospitals are now expanding their COVID-19 capacity even before they reach critical levels. Safe levels for hospital occupancy should not exceed 60 percent, according to DOH standards.

He said DOH-7 is also putting on hold surgeries that do not need immediate attention.

The City Risk Reduction and Management Office (CDRRMO) announced that there would be delays in responding to emergency calls as ambulances are occupied mostly by patients bound for hospitals.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, the CDRRMO said the public should call for an ambulance only for life-threatening emergencies.

“This is due to our ambulances waiting outside emergency rooms of hospitals for hours to hand over their patients,” the CDRRMO Facebook post reads. “Please expect our ambulances not to be able to respond to your emergency calls right away.”

DOH-7 will start inspections of Temporary Treatment and Monitoring Facilities or Isolation Centers built last year in Cebu before they are reactivated. The centers were closed early this year as cases dwindled.

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