LGUs told in Oro to beef up critical care capacity

THE government’s policy body on coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) response directed local government units (LGUs) in the country to boost critical care capacity, said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque today.

Roque held a press briefing to provide updates on the implementation of community quarantine in the region as well as to present the COVID-19 update of the country.

Like Cagayan de Oro mayor Oscar Moreno, Roque assured that critical care capacity of the country’s hospitals remains “manageable,” even after several hospitals already declared they have reached full capacity.

Moreno said that the city is relatively “okay” although there is an increase of local cases.

“Initially, ROFs/LSIs constitute the positive cases in the city but the rise of local cases has been faster in a shorter period of time thus, the ROFs/LSIs now only constitute about 52 percent while the local cases are nearing 48 percent,” said Moreno.

Roque emphasized the need to boost critical care capacity of local government units (LGUs), as even he said such is essential in preserving lives and uplifting the economy.

“The community quarantine gave us the opportunity to beef up our critical care capacity,” said Roque, adding that there are no regrets on it and really need to open up the economy.

“We call for care for life for livelihood,” Roque said in a Presidential Press Briefing with Moreno and Misamis Oriental governor Yevgeny Vincente Emano.

Roque said, about 16.5 percent economic loss has been experienced in the country with the declaration of community quarantine but he cited that the quarantine is significant in preparing hospitals and other treatment facilities to accommodate and treat positive COVID-19 patients.

Aside from Bayanihan 2 to Heal As One Act, there will be a stimulus package that will be provided by the national government to ensure assistance especially to highly affected populace.

“Huwag na po tayong mag-panic, kilala na po natin ang kalaban,” Roque said adding that the country now has the highest testing rate in the whole of Southeast Asia and probably the whole of Asia because it has just surpassed Japan.

Aside from strong contact tracing systems now used by various LGUs, the spokesperson said locally produced supplements such as the virgin coconut oil have been proven to be useful in managing COVID-19 symptoms.

For his part, Moreno said investing in health should be one of the priorities of LGUs and the former shouldn’t solely rely on the national government for assistance especially during a health crisis.

The city government here provided four reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines to the Department of Health (DOH)-10 and Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) that can be used starting October 2020.

“Testing in the region is now leveling up. Hopefully by October we can still serve Caraga and BARMM,” Moreno said.

Moreno added that they have also aided in the procurement of RT-PCRs for Polymedic General Hospital and Maria Reyna-Xavier University Hospital.

Meanwhile, Emano said Misamis Oriental was the first province to have declared a state of calamity, which is 197 days today.

“I believe that one of the things that made us successful in the province is that we worked early against COVID-19,” said Emano.

He said the province only have 306 cases and had 20 cases over the weekend.

He added that they were able to assist 6,464 LSIs/ROFs and have established 30 municipal isolation units with 677 beds and 470 barangay isolation units with 2,329 beds.

For COVID-19 cases, according to Roque, there are 286,743 confirmed cases in the country with 4,984 deaths or 1.7 percent fatality rate, as of yesterday (Sept. 20).

As of September 19, Roque said there are 1.9K total ICU beds in the country where 50 percent are already occupied, 13.9K isolation beds where 56 percent are available, 5.7K ward beds where 47 percent are occupied and 2.1K total units of ventilators where 74 percent are available for use. (Recthie Tolinero/PIA10)