ILOILO City – This southern city is preparing for a possible surge in cases of the Delta variant of the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
The city government is planning to use the St. Therese-MTCC Hospital (STMH) as a functioning Level 1 Hospital to address the high healthcare utilization rate (HCUR) in the metro, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
The STMH, which formerly operated as a tertiary hospital, was lent for free to the city government as a quarantine facility for mild to moderate coronavirus cases.
“We are asking the Department of Health (DOH) for the approval of this proposal. We have to move fast because the virus, especially the Delta variant, is also swift in infecting people and claiming lives,” said Treñas.
The city so far logged one case of the Delta variant, a 30-year-old male from Mandurriao district.
The STMH isolation facility currently houses five positive (for COVID-19) close contacts of this Delta variant case, along with 13 other COVID-positive patients.
All were considered “manageable cases”, according to Gabriel Felix Umadhay, manager of the quarantine facility.
Treñas already instructed Umadhay to prepare the STMH for the Delta variant cases, and have 50 beds ready for such patients.
Meanwhile, Dr. Roland Jay Fortuna, Iloilo City COVID-19 focal person, said turning STMH into a Level 1 Hospital would make it capable of accommodating moderate cases, but clarified it has no intensive care unit (ICU) capability.
“This is just so we can augment the hospitals here that have become filled to capacity due to the surge in cases,” he added.
The city has total HCUR of 82.50 percent or “high risk” classification based on the health system monitoring capacity of the DOH, as of Aug. 4.
Both COVID wards (88.54 percent) and ICU beds (90.37 percent) are in “critical” classification, while mechanical ventilation for COVID-19 is at 65.85 percent or “moderate”.
Earlier, the Iloilo City COVID Team presented its COVID-19 Delta Variant Outbreak Response Plan 2021 when the “Delta” situation gets worse.
As part of the preparation, the team formulated outbreak or surge scenarios – the bad, worse and the worst.
“These scenarios are based on the current data nga ara sa aton sa CESU (City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit) and related researches nga makita naton sa internet,” said statistician Anthony Agudo, chief of the Research and Planning Section of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office./PN
