DOH admits ‘disconnect’ of hospitalization data and ground situation

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) admitted Saturday that there is a “disconnect” between its data on hospital bed occupancy and the actual situation on the ground.

“We are trying to monitor the situation. There is a kind of disconnect dahil syempre po ang ating mga hospital nagsusumite sila ng confirmed positive individuals. ‘Yung mga suspect and probable na nailalagak din sa mga hospitals natin ay hindi po nabibilang ng husto,” DOH Undersecretary and spokesperson Maria Rosario Vergeire said during the Laging Handa public briefing.

(We are trying to monitor the situation. There is a kind of “disconnect” because our hospitals submit data on confirmed positive individuals. We are not able to count the number of suspect and probable cases being hospitalized.)

“We are trying to coordinate now with our hospitals so they will also report to us suspected and probable cases,” she added.

Based on DOH data as of Friday, 72 percent of ICU (intensive care unit) beds, 66 percent of isolation beds, 71 percent of ward beds, and 56 percent of ventilators in the country are currently being utilized.

The Philippines has 158,994 active COVID-19 cases as of Friday. This figure is composed of 96.5 percent that is mild, 1.1 percent asymptomatic, 0.92 percent moderate, 1 percent severe, and 0.5 percent critical cases.

/MUF