By NG Seruela
The Department of Health (DOH) reiterated the need for a step-down care facility to help the decongestion of hospitals.
In today’s (Aug. 27) Laging Handa public briefing, DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega stressed the need for a step-down care facility following the increase in the COVID-19 cases.
“Tumataas nga iyong number of new cases natin at saka mga active cases na napapansin natin sa… hindi lang sa NCR pero across the Philippines. Ang data ho na napapansin namin ngayon is 98% ho niyan mild, asymptomatic at saka moderate, 1.86% na lamang iyong talagang severe and critical.”
He explained that due to the increasing number of cases, a step-down care facility will greatly help hospitals in decongesting since the continuing care for the moderate COVID-19 patients will be transferred in the step-down care facility, leaving more room in the intensive care units (ICUs) to cater critical and severe patients.
“Kasi alam natin iyong COVID-19 kailangan mga 14 days or more pa nga sa hospital ‘yan kaya talagang napupuno iyan. So kailangan talaga na magkakaroon sila ng mga step-down care para mayroong pag-ayos at pag-decongest ng mga hospitals,” Vega added.
He expounded that the stepdown facility will cater to the moderate or recovering patients from the ICU. The facility will serve as a continuing care facility for patients who do not need intensive care.
“Itong mga step-down care na concept para ho ma-decongest na iyong mga recuperating patients sa next level of care or lower level of care para ho ma-decongest naman iyong mga hospitals to cater to more COVID patients.”
In relation to this, Vega bared that the general average of the utilization rate of ICUs in some cities of Metro Manila are high-risk. However, some ICUs are at critical risk.
“Iyong mga cities po dito sa Metro Manila, mayroon na ho talagang high-risk ang intensive care unit utilization. Pero ang general average po ng intensive care utilization po dito sa NCR ay nasa high-risk category pero iyong iba ay nasa critical risk.”
Meanwhile, the treatment czar reported that the number of calls received by the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC) has increased from 110 to 120 calls per day in the 1st week of July, to 530 incoming calls and 600 outgoing calls recently.
“Kung i-total mo ‘to ngayon, nag-a-average na iyong incoming calls namin ng mga 500 plus, mga 530 calls per day, pero mas marami iyong mga outgoing calls din na kailangan matapos o ma-resolve iyong mga backlogs na tinatawagan nila,” he said.
“So may mga 600 calls din iyong outgoing namin kaya tumataas talaga ‘to compared dito sa first week of July na ang incoming calls namin nasa mga ano lang, 110 to 120 calls,” he added.
“So medyo talagang tumataas at saka—ano naman po namin, kinakaya po namin iyong aming number of calls ngayon compared noong July at saka mayroon kaming better connectivity at saka visibility sa lahat ng mga hospitals na kung saan ho puwede ma-transfer or mag-coordinate iyong mga pasyente.” -rir
