DAVAO CITY – Davao City is having its hands full with the surge of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as treatment centers are already “overwhelmed” and in full capacity, and this only covered half of the 4,701 active cases in the city.
Speaking at the COVID-19 Update program on the city’s Disaster Radio on Wednesday, Dr. Ashley Lopez, acting head of the Davao City Health Office, admiited delays in pulling out persons with COVID-19 from their homes.
The city’s 17 temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs), which has a total capacity of 2,500 beds for isolation of patients with COVID-19, has been near full capacity, said Lopez. The city has added three more TTMFs, two of which are school buildings in Mintal plus a hotel in Bajada.
In Davao City, persons with COVID-19 who have undergone a 14-day home quarantine should be transported to TTMFs to complete a seven-day isolation.
But with 2,500 bed capacity, nearly half of the active cases are still in their homes.
With the high number of cases plus problems in operations have led to delays. Lopez said there has been a delay of four to five days before a patient is taken to the TTMF.
“There have been factors such as problems in transport. Rest assured, we are doing all our best efforts to improve on our extraction and transportation of our patients, including all other aspects of COVID operations,” said Lopez.
With the expected delays of taking patients to facilities, Lopez said one way the city is addressing the situation is holding tele-medicine consultations for “people awaiting transport” in collaboration with the Philippine College of Physicians (PCP) Davao.
The city health officer said the city is thankful for PCP Davao to volunteer in this effort, which he said gives timely advice and monitoring of patients at homes to assess their situation.
He added that with these consultations, the City Health Office can determine which patient is to be prioritized for transportation to treatment facilities.
The city government is also providing care kits for these patients awaiting transport, which includes a digital thermometer, pulse oximeter, 10 tablets of vitamin C, five tablets of paracetamol, disposable face masks, and alcohol.
The city has reportedly rolled out 184,123 COVID-19 vaccines, in which 149,095 are first doses and 35,028 second doses, according to a local government website.
