BACOLOD City – This capital city needs more healthcare workers to help fight coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Mayor Evelio Leonardia requested the national government’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) against COVID-19 to send augmentation personnel to address the serious shortage in nurses and other healthcare workers in private hospitals.
According to Leonardia, Bacolod hospitals need six doctors for the midway referral facility, 288 nurses for the emergency treatment center and isolation facilities, as well as 18 radiology technicians, 26 medical technologists, 24 respiratory therapists, and 30 housekeeping staff.
“The serious shortage of nurses and healthcare workers especially in private hospitals is a problem. I, therefore, humbly request for your assistance by providing us the additional personnel required to capacitate and enable the full operation of hospital isolation units,” read part of Leonardia‘s letter to the IATF.
The Department of Health in Central Visayas deployed last month 15 nurses to Bacolod through the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas.
Also, medical personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines composed of two teams with six members each were assigned late August to two private hospitals here – Riverside Medical Center and Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital.
Meanwhile, the availability of functional hospital isolation rooms remains to be “the biggest challenge” for Bacolod, according to Leonardia.
He cited the city government’s ongoing contact tracing and targeted testing to identify and isolate COVID-19 cases.
The construction of the Midway Referral System in the 32-room isolation facility being built by the Department of Public Works and Highways in Barangay Alijis is among the measures aimed at addressing hospital congestion, the mayor said.
As of Oct. 4, 154 COVID-19 patients were confined in various hospitals here, making the capacity utilization rate at 77 percent./PN
