ILOILO City – Increasing the hospitals’ bed capacity for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases is not enough. They have to beef up their medical personnel, too, particularly nurses, according to Mayor Jerry Treñas.
Over the weekend, he asked the Department of Health (DOH), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and Office of Civil Defense (OCD) to help hospitals find additional nurses even from the government’s uniformed services such as the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines and Bureau of Jail Management and Penology.
Some personnel in the uniformed services have medical-related degrees such as in nursing.
With COVID-19 infections rising, Treñas hoped to start the deployment of additional nurses this week.
“We have a long list of patients who need to be hospitalized,” said Treñas, adding that they were fast outnumbering hospital medical personnel.
The city government would also be hiring nursing aides and institutional workers for deployment to hospitals.
“We need to act fast. DOH is claiming they do not have funds. I texted (Budget) Secretary Wendel Avisado requesting additional funds for DOH Region 6 so they can hire nurses,” said Treñas.
Last week, Treñas asked from Heath secretary Francisco Duque III consumables like reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test kits and personal protective equipment for the Uswag Molecular Laboratory.
“The infection surge necessitates a greater demand for supplies,” he said, including for ventilators, oxygen tanks and related ancillary equipment.
More COVID-19 vaccines were needed, too, Treñas informed Duque.
Iloilo City has so far received a total of 33,472 doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines (as of May 17). Of these, 31,036 doses were administered, yielding a rate of 92.72 percent completion.
Treñas also requested the DOH to increase the bed capacity of Western Visayas Sanitarium in Santa Barbara, Iloilo for COVID-19 patients.
‘INDEFINITE SUSPENSION’
As hospitals are being overwhelmed with coronavirus cases, Treñas said he is requesting for an indefinite suspension of travel from Negros Occidental to Iloilo and vice versa.
Treñas’ statement came after the Joint Regional Task Force and Regional Inter-Agency Task Force in Western Visayas issued an advisory lifting the temporary travel suspension to Negros Island from Dumangas Port and Iloilo City effective tomorrow, June 1, 2021./PN
