Moreno asks DOH: Add more beds, ventilators to Oro, Misor

DESPITE the declining number of Covid-19 cases and its Alert Level 2 status, Cagayan de Oro City needs every bit of assistance it can receive from the Department of Health (DOH) to strengthen its health care capacity in the event of another surge, Mayor Oscar Moreno said.

“As I said during a forum (hosted by the DOH), Cagayan de Oro City is carrying the burden of absorbing every Covid-19 patient outside the city and from northern Mindanao. While we are not complaining, in case there is a surge of Covid-19 patients outside the city who are admitted in the city’s public and private hospitals, tayo naiipit since it will reflect on our health care utilization rate,” Moreno said during Tuesday afternoon’s City Hall press briefing.

Moreno made a similar appeal to Dr. Gina Itchon, research, and development department chief of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) during last Friday’s press briefing.

As of Nov. 1, about 14 out of the 35 Covid-19 patients were confined at NMMC’s Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases (EREID) ward and Center for Emerging-Reemerging Infectious Diseases (CEREID) facility in Barangay San Simon came from Misamis Oriental province.

While Misamis Oriental Gov. Yevgeny Emano was quick to blame Cagayan de Oro City Hall under Moreno’s administration for the increase in Covid-19 patients from the province, Moreno repeatedly pointed out that the province had no single suitable isolation facility nor hospital to care for their Covid-19 patients, let alone have mechanical ventilators and their own testing facilities for their patients.

“What I told the DOH is to find solutions and add more mechanical ventilators and (intensive care unit) beds in the city or even the provinces. For example, Misamis Oriental has no single mechanical ventilator. Not one of their hospitals has one ventilator nor ICU bed. (What the Provincial Capitol bought instead) were additional ambulances to fetch patients from their towns in Misamis Oriental and bring them to Cagayan de Oro City’s hospitals,” Moreno said.

By augmenting the city’s health care capacity along with Misamis Oriental province and the rest of northern Mindanao, Moreno said they will be better prepared to handle another Covid-19 surge.

“What happens is that the severe to critical Covid-19 patients are brought to Cagayan de Oro City and the more critical patients received, the higher the city’s HCUR. The CEREID is donated by City Hall and is under NMMC, a government hospital under DOH,” Moreno said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)