MANILA, Philippines—The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) on Wednesday (Sept. 29) said it will formalize an agreement with the Department of Health (DOH) for the deployment of military health care workers to help in the government’s COVID-19 response.
The agreement will detail the deployment of military medical workers, including number of workers and duration of assignment, said Col. Fatima Claire Navarro, AFP surgeon general.
“This agreement will solidify our continued support to our national government and manifests our commitment to win in our fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said in a statement.
The deployment of uniformed medical health workers came after President Rodrigo Duterte earlier said he will seek the help of military and police for hospitals running out of staff in handling COVID cases.
Some hospitals in the National Capital Region are running at full capacity and hundreds of health care workers have contracted COVID-19, further cutting manpower needed to treat patients.