Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) on Covid-19, recommended the establishment of four hospitals in Metro Manila dedicated to patients who contracted the infectious disease on Tuesday.

“Maganda po na magkaroon po tayo ng tinatawag sa Metro Manila na four Covid hospitals dedicated (It would be nice if we could have four hospitals dedicated for Covid patients in Metro Manila),” he said. “‘Yung mga tinatawag nating may dialysis, ‘yung mga cancer, ‘yon po ang mga nagiging casualty po (those dialysis and cancer patients, those are the ones who become the casualties,” he said during President Rodrigo Duterte’s address aired over state-run PTV.

He said treating Covid-19 patients in various hospitals sometimes compromises the safety of non-Covid patients.

“Even if we open our economy, we will be ready to cope and dance with the virus by having an additional capacity especially if we could put up Covid-dedicated hospital [so] that non-Covid casualties can be prevented),” Galvez said.

Expanded testing

Galvez, also the presidential peace adviser, meanwhile said reaching the testing capacity target to 32,000 actual tests per day can save around 4,000 to 6,000 Filipinos.

“Na-break na po natin ang 26,900 na test natin noong July 17, [so] ibig sabihin nakapag-test na po tayo isang araw na more or less 27,000 a day (We already broke the 26,900 tests recorded in July 17, so that means, we have now the capacity to test more or less 27,000 daily),” Galvez said during President Rodrigo Duterte’s public address aired Tuesday morning.

Through increasing the country’s testing capacity, he said, more deaths can be avoided.

Early detection, he added, can reduce the number of patients experiencing severe and critical symptoms.

“‘Pagka na-detect po natin kaagad nang maaga, asymptomatic at moderate, puwede na po nating gamutin (Once we detected it early, those asymptomatic and moderate patients can be treated immediately),” he said.

Galvez also recommended the expansion of the intensive care units (ICU) beds and isolation beds in Metro Manila.

He also reiterated the importance of implementing the national action plan on Covid-19 with its four main strategies―testing, tracing, isolation and treatment.

“Dahil po sa lumalaki na bilang ng ano po―ng ating Covid cases, kailangan po talagang matutukan po ‘yung apat na haligi po nito (Due to the increasing number of our Covid cases, there is a need to focus on these four pillars),” he said, citing the pandemic situation in other countries which improved because of implementing the same strategies. (PNA)