IATF wants COVID-19 bed capacity increased in hospitals

MANILA, Philippines — The government has ordered private and public hospitals to increase the number of beds allocated for coronavirus patients as the number of cases continued to increase in recent weeks, reaching more than 85,000 by the end of July.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) issued resolution 60-A calling for the increase in bed capacity as part of measures to strengthen the Philippines’ response to the pandemic.

Presidential spokesman Harry Roque Jr. yesterday said the directive covers hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR) and Region IV-A, which remain under general community quarantine until Aug. 15.

“Government hospitals in NCR and Region 1V-A are directed to increase their hospital beds dedicated to COVID-19 up to 30-50 percent while private hospitals are enjoined to increase their hospital beds dedicated to COVID-19 up to 20-30 percent,” Roque said, with beds located in ward, isolation and especially intensive care unit.

Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega, also the National Task Force (NTF) treatment czar, is directed to monitor the compliance of hospitals in these areas and to the One Hospital Command System in NCR, Region III and Region IV-A, Roque added.

Local government units (LGUs) are directed to prioritize submission to the COVID Kaya Platform with concurrent submission to the NTF, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), the NCR Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority daily updates and weekly comprehensive reports on the following metrics for priority areas/barangays under the localized lockdown/enhanced community quarantine.

Among these are daily trend of active cases, number and percent of population; cases in community quarantine vs. health facility vs home; percent of close contacts traced and percent of contacts in quarantine; number and utilization of community isolation beds, met health system capacity targets and utilization and COVID special teams’ investigations and results.

The LGUs are also required to submit their detailed plans on the strict enforcement of minimum health standards for priority areas/barangays.

The Regional Interagency Task Force is also directed to monitor the strict compliance with minimum public health standards in these areas.

All provinces and highly urbanized cities and ICCs are also directed to observe and enforce the minimum health standards, conduct uniform implementation of such in government offices and workplaces, among others. The body also ordered the scaling up of local health system capacity, especially for community isolation and critical care, including dedicated mechanical ventilators, ICU, isolation and ward beds for COVID-19 cases.

The IATF ordered the submission of complete and accurate data through COVID-19 Kaya and DOH DataCollect platforms.

Signed by Health Secretary Francisco Duque III and co-chair Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles, the resolution also called on the NTF and the DILG to ensure that areas flagged for local action shall implement strict lockdowns in line with the zoning containment strategy.