Ambulances lining up the driveway leading to the emergency department of Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center | Photos courtesy of VSMMC
CEBU CITY, Philippines — All private and public hospitals in Cebu City will now have to submit a daily report on its bed capacity to the Cebu City government.
In the newly signed Executive Order (EO) No. 83 of Mayor Edgardo Labella on July 2, 2020, the mayor specifically ordered that hospitals submit their total regular bed capacity, expanded coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) bed capacity, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed capacity, and dedicated COVID-19 ICU bed capacity.
Look: Cebu City Mayor signs Executive Order No. 83
This directive will also apply to Level II Quarantine Centers including the Cebu City Quarantine Center (CCQC), Bayanihan Sacred Heart School Field Center, the IEC Pavillion Field Center, and the New Normal Oasis for Adaptation and a Home (Noah) Complex.
The Level II Quarantine Centers will be asked to submit the daily census of their actual occupancies.
Read more: NOAH Complex to be used as isolation center for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients
In the EO, Labella said that the measure would help the city strictly monitor the critical utilization rate of the medical facilities and ensure they would not be overwhelmed by the rising cases of COVID-19.
This was one of the concerns that Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu had raised over the widespread infection of the virus in the city.
He said that the city would need to decrease its critical utilization rate for the hospitals in order to downgrade into a general community quarantine (GCQ).
Cimatu has said in previous statements that the hospitals in the city has been overwhelmed by the patients in need of treatment.
One of the goals of the IATF is to help the health care in Cebu sustain the system amid the rising cases.
Read more: QR passes for residential complexes can be shared, says Cebu City ABC prexy
Meanwhile, the new EO No. 83 also details the use of the new QR coded passes replacing the previous ECQ passes.
QR pass holders with codes ending in odd numbers can go outside on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while QR pass holders with codes ending in even numbers and zero can go outside on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
No QR pass holder is allowed to leave on Sundays. Only Authorized Persons Outside of Residence (APOR) may go out.
The curfew has been returned to 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, which was the original curfew since March 28 to May 31.
Finally, the number coding of vehicles have been suspended to give way for the QR pass coding.
However, the schedule for the Carbon Market based on the first letter of the family name will remain. /dbs