Amid the increase in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in Metro Manila, some medical frontliners from Ilocos and Visayas will travel to the capital region to help.
This is while many health workers at the epicenter of the epidemic are also infected and have difficulty responding to the outbreak of cases of the disease.
On Thursday, April 8, the first batch of health workers comprising 50 nurses arrived.
According to Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go, chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, said their ongoing interaction with the Office of the Presidential Adviser to the Visayas, regional offices of the Department of Health (DOH), local government units, and even hospitals in the Visayas for sending volunteer medical frontliners to Metro Manila.
He said there is a need to increase the force of medical workers in the National Capital Region and 4 neighboring provinces— Bulacan, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna — dubbed “NCR Plus,” especially since the health workers are tired due to the number of COVID-19. cases.
NCR Plus is now under the strictest quarantine.
Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu will deploy 20 nurses and 5 doctors with deep skills and knowledge in treating COVID-19 patients.
There were also donations of medical supplies from the Visayas.
Medical frontliners from Ilocos, Visayas to help in Metro Manila
The DOH Center for Health Development in the Ilocos region is also scheduled to send nurses and doctors to NCR Plus.
Frontliner volunteers will receive an additional 20 percent premium on their basic pay under the Bayanihan to Recover As One-Act.
The DOH will pay for their trip to Metro Manila, and the receiving hospitals will pay for their food, accommodation, and transportation.
On Monday’s report, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country has reached 803,398, of which 143,726 are active cases or remain ill.
Meanwhile, the government will build additional isolation facilities in response to the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the country and as it fills hospitals.
“There are now plans to build mobile tents, ICU (intensive care unit) facilities of up to 200 beds,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said on Monday.
“We’re doing what other countries did at the height of their own pandemics, we’re relying now on mobile hospitals,” he added.