Critical care utilization rates down after MECQ

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Health (DOH) yesterday reported that the country’s critical care utilization rates have gone down by more than 10 percentage points following the recent two-week moderate enhanced community quarantine (MECQ).

According to DOH Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the utilization rates for critical care at the National Capital Region (NCR) were “hitting” 80 percent before the region and the provinces of Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite and Rizal were placed under MECQ last month.

But now, she said, utilization rates for isolation wards, ICU beds and ward beds for COVID-19 patients are “down to 67 percent.”

“We saw the efforts of the hospitals, both public and private, to allocate more units for COVID-19  … We are closely monitoring hospitals so that the reduction will continue,” she told a press briefing.

The MECQ was imposed from Aug. 4 to 18 in response to the request of various medical organizations for a “timeout” to give exhausted frontliners some breathing space.

The doctors also sought a recalibration of the country’s COVID-19 response to put a stop to the soaring cases, thus, preventing the heath system from getting overwhelmed.

Data show that nationwide, utilization rates stood at 46 percent as of Sept. 2, with NCR having the highest at 67 percent; followed by Calabarzon with 59 percent and Western Visayas with 55 percent.

The lowest utilization rates are Mimaropa with 18 percent; Soccsksargen with 20 percent; Caraga with 21 percent and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao with 22 percent.