Cebu City targets fast tracking of hospital capacity, testing laboratories

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City government is determined to be released from the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ).

With this, Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella detailed the plans of the city to address the concerns of the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-MEID).

“It pains me to see Cebuanos suffer and while we work on our appeal, I will take this time to ensure the fast-tracking of hospital capacity expansions to accommodate more patients, and the approval of more testing laboratories to hasten their discharge. By this, we can free up more bed spaces,” he said on June 16, 2020.

Read: Labella appeals to IATF to place Cebu City under GCQ

The mayor said that the IATF-MEID chose to heed the recommendation of the medical community after a sudden rise of admissions in the hospitals for COVID-19 due to mild or severe cases of the disease.

The city government is now working with the Department of Health and the hospitals to increase allocation of space for COVID-19 patients as well as help laboratories be accredited for testing for faster processing of the specimen.

“We will continue to augment the manpower of our hospitals while making sure that our frontliners and health workers are well taken cared of,” said Labella.

Read: Labella orders barangays to strictly impose ECQ guidelines

Despite the city being under the ECQ, the mayor is convinced that the city has been prepared to fight the battle against COVID-19, and that it will continue to do so until the pandemic is neutralized.

“We will continue to use this time to further prepare the battlefield, the front line, and the recovery areas. We will appeal to the IATF to reconsider Cebu City’s quarantine status so that we can all regain our means of living. And in the meantime, I ask everyone to cooperate with the guidelines that I will be issuing in response to IATF’s decision,” said the mayor. /bmjo