Palace spokesman Harry Roque on Thursday recommended giving medical frontliners a break amid the Covid-19 pandemic, even as the capacity of the country’s health facilities remained at controllable levels.
Roque said 52 percent of ICU beds, 55 percent of isolation beds, 57 percent of ward beds and 73 percent of ventilators were available as of Oct. 15.
“Sec. (Carlito) Galvez, siguro po puwede nating irekomenda sa mga ospital na habang nasa 50 percent lang po ang ating utilization rate ng ating health facilities, baka pupuwedeng pagbakasyunin iyong ilang mga frontliners natin para sa ganoon ay makapagpahinga habang hindi pa po kritikal ang ating critical care capacity,” he said in a Palace briefing.
Galvez, the chief implementor of the National Task Force Against Covid-19, said he relay the suggestion to the One Hospital Command.
In August, President Rodrigo Duterte placed several areas under more stringent lockdowns for two weeks after medical frontliners appealed for a “time-out” as hospitals were overwhelmed with Covid-19 admissions.
The government has been easing quarantine restrictions nationwide to revive the economy. Majority of the country is under modified general community quarantine, the least stringent among quarantine classifications.
The Philippines has recorded 348,698 Covid-19 infections as of Oct. 15, of which 48,040 are active. John Ezekiel J. Hirro