MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health should tap military hospitals in dealing with coronavirus patients to assist overburdened hospitals in the country, a lawmaker suggested Friday.
In a matter of months, the new virus has so far infected 2,633 people in the Philippines in a health crisis overwhelming healthcare facilities across the archipelago.
Several healthcare facilities in Metro Manila announced they had reached full capacity and would no longer accept new coronavirus cases.
“While government civilian hospitals and private medical facilities are in round-the-clock operations to address the infectious menace, little is heard of the involvement of the various military hospitals under the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Veterans Memorial Hospital under the Department of National Defense,” Rep. Edcel Lagman (Albay) said.
He said major military hospitals can accommodate 2,451 beds, while other AFP hospitals nationwide have composite bed capacity of no less than 556 beds.
The Veterans Memorial Medical Center has five COVID-19 patients while the V. Luna Medical Center has one case, while other military hospitals “have no record of confinement yet,” Lagman said.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles on Thursday said the VMCC will be converted into an isolation area. — Gaea Katreena Cabico