Vice President Leni Robredo has called on the Department of Health to provide real-time information on hospital occupancy.
Robredo expressed doubt that hospitals can still cope with the surge of COVID-19 patients as desperate calls for help continue to mount.
The Vice President added that the data on the availability of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in Metro Manila and nearby provinces did not reflect the situation on the ground.
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“For almost a week now, we have been receiving distress calls from family members of Covid positive patients who cannot be admitted to hospitals. We have read how many have already died inside tents outside hospitals, waiting to be admitted to the ERs, in ambulances while in transit, at home without receiving any medical help,” Robredo said.
As of Robredo’s writing, the DOH data showed 79 percent of the ICU beds, 69 percent of isolation beds, 61 percent of ward bed allocated to COVID-19 patients in Metro Manila have been occupied.
Robredo said that the figures did not reflect the realities on the ground. Some doctors told Robredo that their hospitals were already full but they not reflected on the DOH data.
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“If people who don’t need hospitalization are still getting in line in hospitals, there must be underlying reasons. Have we built a system where people who are self-isolating at home would still have access to medical help when necessary?” Robredo said.
“Most of the people coming to us for help are saying they can’t contact the hotline numbers given. It must be because the system is already overloaded. Have they at least fixed the infrastructure for this? There are many offering Home Care Medical Package. But what happens who don’t have the money to pay?” she added. (TDT)
