Cebu scheme reduces hospital occupancy

By Dolly Yasa

 

BACOLOD City – The Capacity Utilization Rate (CUR) of hospitals here decreased after the local government established the One Hospital Command Center (OHCC) as a measure against the spread of COVID-19.

This was the assessment of Melquiades Feliciano, Visayas chief implementer of the National Task Force against COVID-19.

The OHCC was copied by Bacolod City government from Cebu in a bid to contain the spike in infections.

“When we arrived in Bacolod, the CUR of hospitals was about 99%. There were only two beds left available and many of the patients were not accommodated,” Feliciano said in a press statement released by the Public Information Office Wednesday.

Feliciano said the current CUR of Bacolod is down to about 79%.

He also underscored the importance of providing appropriate hospital care to COVID-19 patients in his speech during the ceremonial launch of the “One Hospital Command Center (OHCC)” at the Bacolod City Government Center Tuesday.

“Hospitals play a vital role in the fight against COVID-19. Having the appropriate healthcare capacity to address the patients, they are always part of the efforts.”

Different hospitals also made complementary efforts in the adoption of the OHCC.

“We were also able to place a referral system on the ground where we refer the patients before admitting them to tertiary hospitals,” Feliciano added.

The OHCC is a centralized hospital command center for better management and use of information from Bacolod hospitals on COVID-19 cases.

It includes a call center manned by agents for tele-consultation and education.

Teams under this center are deployed to coordinate hospital admissions and out-of-town hospital transfers as well as manage medical transport and data analytics.

“The cases we have right now, we call them controlled cases because they are from household transmissions. If it’s from a household transmission, it’s on lockdown, and it’s controlled,” Feliciano said.

He added that they will be doubling their efforts on index cases that are of unknown origin.

Feliciano was the lead official sent to Cebu City to manage the COVID-19 situation at the height of the spread of cases there. Currently, Cebu City has a much lower number of daily fresh cases.

On his part Mayor Evelio Leonardia said: “If we all cooperate, we will also be a success story here in Bacolod. We have seen it already happening partially.”

“In Cebu, they used to have about 350 [daily] cases but now they’re down to single-digit cases a day,” Leonardia noted.

According to the mayor, the city government will “make the most out of Feliciano’s presence” in Bacolod.

He thus appealed for support and cooperation from all sectors.

Present in the ceremonial launch of the OHCC were Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, Feliciano’s wife Mia, Councilor Renecito Novero, Councilor Lady Gles Pallen, City Administrator Em Ang, who is also the executive director of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC); City Health Officer Dr. Ma. Carmela Gensoli, and DILG-Bacolod City director Ma. Joy Maredith Madayag.

Also present were barangay captains and EOC private volunteer consultants Dr. Hector Gayares and Dr. Chris Sorongon, and John Dave Dueñas. (With a report from Bacolod PIO)