Hospital command: COVID-19 calls down by over 50%
MANILA, Philippines — From some 350 calls daily in September, the One Hospital Command (OHC) has been receiving only around 150 calls per day over the past few weeks.
According to OHC medical officer Marylaine Padlan, there has been a decrease in the requests for hospital referrals for COVID-19 patients.
However, she underscored it is still early to say that the decline is related to the downgrading of the Alert Level in the National Capital Region (NCR) from level 3 to level 2 starting in Nov. 5.
“It is difficult to say that this is the effect of Alert Level 2. We have to look more at the data in the coming days… We have to study this thoroughly,” she noted at a public briefing on Friday.
Padlan, however, confirmed that the utilization rate of hospitals and hospital facilities in the NCR had decreased.
“So, maybe we can say that our situation is improving… We actually removed some beds in the isolation facilities, but once we see an increasing trend of cases, we will increase the beds again,” she added.
The OHC also observed the shortened waiting list at hospital emergency rooms.
“In terms of referrals, almost all regions are now low risk in (hospital) utilization rate. If sometimes we are having difficulties in referring patients, it is because the patients have special needs,” she maintained.
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