In case of surge, gov’t hospitals told to give up to 70% bed capacity for COVID-19

MANILA, Philippines — The government has required public hospitals to increase their bed allocation for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients when there is a surge of infections.

Earlier, public and private hospitals were asked to dedicate 30 percent of their total beds to COVID-19 patients.

Read: DOH orders Metro Manila hospitals prepare more beds for COVID-19 patients

According to Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire, the Department of Health (DOH) will amend this policy, saying that public hospitals “will be mandated” to increase their bed allocation for COVID-19 patients up to 70 percent should there is a surge in cases.

“Kapag nag-surge, pwede mag-increase to 50%. Pag kailangan pa rin, they may increase up to 70% of their bed capacity,” Vergeire said in an online media forum Wednesday.

Meanwhile, private hospitals will only have to allocate 20% of their total beds for COVID-19 cases which could be increased to 30% when there is a surge in cases, the DOH official noted.

Vergeire added that they are working with other agencies to provide more incentives for private hospitals that would continue to increase their bed capacity for COVID-19.

Currently, there are 70,764 confirmed cases of the respiratory disease nationwide, a majority of which came from Metro Manila, the epicenter of the contagion in the country. Meanwhile, 23,281 patients have recovered with 1,837 deaths. / MUF