President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night called on private hospitals to increase the number of beds dedicated to Covid-19 patients as infections among Filipinos continued to rise.
“What struck my attention was ito sanang appeal to private hospitals to increase the number of beds dedicated to Covid patients. Kung sana ho madagdagan ninyo,” he said in a televised address.
As of Sept. 14, 265,888 Covid-19 cases have been recorded in the country.
Department of Health data as of Sept. 13 showed that 50 percent of intensive care unit beds were occupied.
More than 7,000 isolation beds were available, while nearly half of ward beds were being used.
“Madagdagan lang ho sana ninyo [ang beds] because still the numbers are increasing. The infections vary. In some cases and in some provinces or cities there’s a fast recovery rate while others are lagging behind and probably this is because of the ‘yung prior infection na hindi na-detect during the height of the pandemic,” Duterte said.
“Baka ho kayo makatulong talaga sa bayan. I am appealing this for the country and for the people. Alam naman ninyo na hindi lang tayo ang tinamaan so your help will go a long way,” he added. John Ezekiel J. Hirro