MANILA, Philippines — Some hospitals are still not complying with the required bed allocation for COVID-19 patients despite the ongoing surge in coronavirus cases, the Department of Health (DOH) said Friday.
Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire has reminded that under the law, private hospitals should allocate at least 30 percent of their bed capacity for COVID-19 patients during a surge in cases while public hospitals should reserve 50 percent of their capacity.
“But as of August 24, there were these 59 out of 443 government hospitals which are still below the 30 percent COVID-19 allocation for beds and 220 out of 843 or 26 percent of private hospitals still below the 20 percent COVID-19 beds allocation,” Vergeire told an online media briefing.
“Kapag tiningnan natin ‘yan, hindi pa po ‘yan ang sinasabi nating surge capacity na 30 and 50 percent for private and public hospitals, respectively. ‘Yan pa lang po ‘yung nandun pa tayo sa situation na hindi pa ganito kataas ang kaso,” she added.
(If we look at the data, this is still not the surge capacity of 30 and 50 percent for private and public hospitals, respectively.)
Vergeire urged hospitals to comply with the bed allocation for COVID-19 patients required under the law.
“Ngayong tumataas na ang kaso at marami nang nangangailangan ng hospital, hinihikayat po namin ang ating mga facilities all over the country, please comply with the 30 percent for private hospitals and 50 percent for government hospitals so we can accommodate more patients,” she said.
(Now that we are having an increase in cases and we need hospitals, we are encouraging all health facilities in the country to comply with the 30 percent for private hospitals and 50 percent for government hospitals so we can accommodate more patients.)
The country currently has 131,921 active COVID-19 cases as of Thursday. Based on the latest DOH case bulletin, 75 percent of ICU (intensive care unit) beds, 63 percent of isolation beds, 69 percent of ward beds, and 54 percent of ventilators are currently being utilized.
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