Palace insists COVID-19 bed capacity in NCR far from overwhelmed

MANILA, Philippines — The COVID-19 bed capacity in Metro Manila is far from exhausted, Malacañang said Tuesday as the Department of Health (DOH) ordered hospitals in the capital region to boost their capacity to accommodate more coronavirus patients now that the region was seeing yet another surge in new infections.

In a televised Palace press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said that of the 8,400 hospital beds in Metro Manila dedicated to COVID-19 patients, nearly 43% or only 3,602 are currently occupied.

“So wala pa po sa kalahati ang occupied na hospital bed exclusively devoted for COVID-19,” Roque said.

(So we have yet to reach half the capacity of the hospital beds exclusively devoted for COVID-19 patients.)

Roque made the statement following reports that many Metro Manila hospitals were nearing full capacity.

Meanwhile, data from the DOH showed that as of July 4, Metro Manila’s critical care utilization is at 63.41%.

Although higher from the national rate of 38.75%, the capital region is considered to be at “moderate risk” level.

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said that while there were reports that some hospitals were nearing or had already reached capacity, this did not necessarily mean that they were overwhelmed as only a portion of their full hospital capacity is dedicated to COVID-19 cases.

On Monday, the DOH met with officials from Metro Manila hospitals to ensure their compliance with the mandatory 30 percent allocation of beds for COVID-19 cases.

The hospitals are likewise asked to “be prepared to implement an additional 20 percent surge capacity if and when needed”, Vergeire added. [ac]