MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will deploy its medical teams in response to President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to support hospital staff in the National Capital Region amid rising COVID-19 cases among health workers.
A total of five teams will be deployed, with two teams from the Philippine Army, and one each from the AFP Health Service Command, Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force, said AFP surgeon general Col. Fatima Claire Navarro.
Each team will be composed of one doctor, one nurse and three aides.
This task is not new to the AFP. It also deployed medical teams to the cities of Cebu and Davao in 2020 to help in COVID response.
Duterte on Wednesday (Sept. 23) said he will seek the help of military and police to help hospitals in need of more staff. Some hospitals in the NCR are running at full capacity and hundreds of health care workers have contracted SARS Cov2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the AFP had already sent some nurses to St. Luke’s Medical Center.
The deployment of new teams will be decided by the Inter-Agency Task Force for COVID-19.
Navarro said the AFP was expediting appointments for newly-recruited military medical personnel to strengthen the capability of the AFP Medical Corps.