PHAPI: COVID-19 admissions in private hospitals still ‘manageable’ amid rising cases

The utilization of private hospitals remains to be manageable despite the increasing number of new COVID-19 infections, an official of the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) said Thursday. 

PHAPI president Dr. Jose Rene de Grano said in a public briefing that only a few COVID-19 patients are currently getting admitted in hospitals, and most of them are those with comorbid conditions.

“‘Yung hospital utilization hindi naman ganoon tumataas, especially sa private hospitals. Halos hindi naman ano…very manageable pa po,” he said.

(The hospital utilization is not increasing that much, especially in private hospitals. It's still very manageable.)

The nationwide positivity rate rose to 8.5% on Wednesday, with the active caseload at 8,252, based on data by independent monitoring group OCTA Research.

Positivity rate refers to the percentage of people who were found positive for COVID-19 among the total number of individuals tested.

Even Department of Health (DOH) officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire has acknowledged that new COVID-19 cases are rising again, but said that the recent upticks should not be a cause of concern as hospital utilization in the country remains manageable.

Vergeire also said that the Health Department is not considering proposing the mandatory wearing of face masks anew amid the increasing cases.

She, however, reminded the public to assess themselves when and where they should put their masks on to lower the risk of infection.

For PHAPI’s part, De Grano recommended continued masking especially in areas where there is a high risk of COVID-19 transmission.

“Para po sa aming mga miyembro ng medical community, mas maganda po ‘yan. Kasi hindi lang naman ang napo-protektahan natin ay pang-COVID. Ngayon, usong uso ang respiratory diseases kaya maganda na kung talagang sa tingin ninyo ang pupuntahan ninyo ay talagang masikip at maraming tao…magandang meron (face mask),” he said.

(For us, members of the medical community, wearing a face mask is better. It could not only protect us from COVID-19, but also other respiratory diseases. If you think that the place you're going to is really crowded, it’s better that you wear face masks.)

In October last year, Malacañang released Executive Order No. 7, which made the wearing of face masks both indoors and outdoors voluntary amid the COVID-19 pandemic.—AOL, GMA Integrated News