Influx of Covid cases in hospitals ‘manageable’

PRIVATE Hospitals Association of the Philippines (PHAPi) President Dr. Jose Rene de Grano said on Saturday that the influx of Covid-19 patients in hospitals had become more manageable compared to the previous weeks of the virus surge.

“The lines in emergency rooms have now totally disappeared or were reduced to a few,” de Grano told The Manila Times in a phone interview.

De Grano attributed the positive development to the close coordination between the One Covid Referral Center (formerly One Hospital Command Center) and the Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams or Bherts in locating facilities for patients in need of confinement.

But de Grano warned that hospital utilization rate in Metro Manila remained high at 85 percent, as many Covid-19 patients require 14 days confinement to completely recover.

“They think that feeling well means they will soon be discharged — they have to test negative or finish their 14day quarantine. But after discharging a patient, another one will be waiting in line,” de Grano said.

He explained that private hospitals now prefer patients with moderate to severe symptoms, referring those with mild or asymptomatic conditions to isolation facilities.

Manpower woes

De Grano said staffing was an issue among private hospitals and it was further exacerbated by the Department of Health’s (DoH) demands to increase beds for Covid-19 from 20 percent to 30 percent

during the virus spike.

“We cannot just add beds without the nurses to do the rounds. Some can comply with the directive, but most hospitals still struggle with manpower issues.”

De Grano confirmed that the DoH has indeed threatened to sanction hospitals that failed to comply with the directive.

“Most received letters from the DoH demanding an explanation why they were not able to comply with the directive — to which the common response is lack of nurses. And now the DoH is threatening us that we will be fined P20,000 on the first warning, and another P20,000 on the next offense plus a 20 percent premium,” de Grano lamented.

Mandated by law

Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DoH’s directive to hospitals to increase their Covid-19 capacities was mandated by the Bayanihan to Recover As One Act or Bayanihan 2.

Vergeire added that private hospitals struggling to implement the order should approach the DoH for help.

“We understand that it’s not easy so we can help them expand their capacity,” Vergeire said during the Laging Handa briefing on Saturday.

PhilHealth ‘red tape’

De Grano bemoaned the delayed payments of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and the alleged presence of red tape within the state insurer added to their woes.

“They have so many requirements.

They issued a circular for instance that us, private hospitals, need to sign an undertaking that has so many conditions such as if we cannot pay, the company is answerable. Why are they requiring so many conditions that I think are somewhat forced,” de Grano said.

He urged the government to help PHAPi members to secure their claims from PhilHealth.

De Grano told non-Covid patients not to hesitate to come to hospitals as there are facilities allotted for them.

“Non-Covid admissions continue. They should not be scared of getting admitted, as the non-Covid areas are not getting full,” he said, adding that hospitals have telemedicine services for non-Covid cases.

Still high

The Philippines has posted 11,101 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, pushing the number of active cases to 203,710 and total overall cases at 926,052.

The positivity rate has decreased to 17.7 percent positive tests out of 43,574 tests conducted — equivalent to 7,744 tests returning positive.

Despite the high number of active cases, 99 percent of which were mild, moderate or asymptomatic, while some 1,800 cases were critical or severe cases.

For the first time in more than a week, the number of deaths has returned to two figures, with 72 added fatalities, for a total death toll of 15,810 or 1.71 percent case fatality rate.

Recoveries are at 706,532 cases, or 76.3 percent of all cases, with the addition of 799 new recoveries.

Hospital utilization rate in the National Capital Region remained high, with 85 percent of intensive care unit beds, 62 percent of isolation beds, and 72 percent of ward beds occupied.