healthcare workers

Gov’t must hire thousands more nurses to treat COVID-19 in Metro Manila – Octa

Michelle Abad

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Gov’t must hire thousands more nurses to treat COVID-19 in Metro Manila – Octa

FILIPINO NURSES. Nurses stage a motorcade rally from the Philippine General Hospital to the Department of Health in Manila on October 8, 2020, to mark National Nurses Week and to call on the government to urgently address wage increase, regularization, and the total lifting of the deployment ban abroad.

File photo by Inoue Jaena/Rappler

The health department adds more beds for COVID-19 patients, but Octa Research asks, 'Who will take care of the patients?'

The Philippine government needs to find and hire thousands of nurses to be able to maintain adequate care for COVID-19 patients in Metro Manila, the Octa Research group said on Friday, April 23.

As Metro Manila continues to experience a surge of new COVID-19 infections, hospitals overflow with patients seeking care.

Through the surge, the Department of Health has been announcing its augmentation of health system capacities with isolation and intensive care unit beds. But Octa asks, “Who will take care of the patients?”

There are around 16,000 nurses in Metro Manila with varying shift schedules. In Octa’s model, the capital region only has around half of the nurses needed to staff 9,745 beds allotted for COVID-19 in a standard care setting.

To achieve full capacity care, nurses would have to man twice the number of COVID-19 beds designated as standard of care.

On Saturday, April 24, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the health department met with the Alliance of Health Workers to discuss their concerns.

Most of their concerns, Vergeire said in the Laging Handa briefing, were related to their delayed benefits. She said the department immediately disbursed money to supplement the wages given by their hospitals.

Vergeire said they would continue to dialogue with the health workers to better understand why government incentives are not deemed attractive enough. 

The department is also in talks with medical schools to keep human health resources continuous in the long term.

Earlier in April, the DOH said it redeployed healthcare workers from provinces to the capital region to augment the health system.

‘Don’t lift MECQ yet’

According to Octa, the reproduction number (R) in the National Capital Region lowered to 0.98 on the week of April 16 to April 22. 

This means that one confirmed case infects less than one other person. Maintaining the reproduction number below 1 is a positive indicator in containing the pandemic.

However, the experts urged the government to not lift the modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) status on Metro Manila until R is less than 0.9.

Octa recommended that the government must continue to intensify and expand testing, tracing, isolation, and vaccination. 

Given the slow vaccination campaign, the experts said Metro Manila will still be vulnerable to surges. To prepare, the national government needs to assess its surge response, define early warning systems, and allocate more funds and resources for public health systems and local governments.

Meanwhile, the private sector must also not forget to ensure safe workplaces in the whole country, Octa said.

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– Rappler.com

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Michelle Abad

Michelle Abad is a multimedia reporter at Rappler. She covers the rights of women and children, migrant Filipinos, and labor.