236 health facilities, including 25 in NCR, in ‘critical risk’ utilization

DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire talks with reporters via Zoom meeting in this file photo taken on April 23, 2020. INQUIRER.net file photo / Daphne Galvez

MANILA, Philippines — A total of 236 healthcare facilities, including 25 hospitals in Metro Manila, are currently classified as “critical risk” in terms of utilization, in view of the new surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, the Department of Health (DOH) said Monday.

This means these facilities’ isolation, ward, and intensive unit care beds, as well as mechanical ventilators, are over 85% occupied already, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said.

“Nationwide, ang ating healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) ay 56% but looking at it granularly, we see 236 facilities nationwide ay critical na and 25 of these are in the National Capital Region,” she said in an online media briefing.

(Nationwide, our HCUR is 56% but granularly, there are 236 facilities that are already in critical level, including 25 in NCR.)

To augment human resources, Vergeire said the health department has been hiring health workers in the past four months, totaling to 4,851.

This is 97% of the target number to be hired according to the needs based per region. However, the DOH is set to recompute the number of manpower needed in light of the COVID-19 Delta variant threat.

Vergeire said the Philippines is now under “high risk” of COVID-19 amid the spike in cases since mid-July.

The country saw a 47% two-week growth rate with a high risk average daily attack rate of 7.20 cases per 100,000 population, she said.

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