Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. on Wednesday night issued a new executive order vowing to provide additional health care personnel, contact tracers, and vaccinators to its 42 municipalities and one component city and upgrading Level 1 hospitals.
Through Executive Order No. 325 or “An Order Implementing Escalated Covid-19 Surge Response for Healthcare Facilities in the Province of Iloilo”, Defensor said the provincial government will continue to support the response requirement of city and municipal health offices amid the existence of a more transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
Aside from providing additional health care personnel, contact tracers, and vaccinators, oxygen tanks with regulators, emergency drugs and other supplies, personal protective equipment (PPE), disinfectants, and testing kits will also be augmented.
The provincial government has also boosted the capabilities of its hospitals, particularly Level 1 hospitals to handle critical Covid-19 cases.
“The objective is the dynamic escalation and de-escalation of the capacities of our health care capacity from municipal health care office to our hospitals, temporary treatment and monitoring facilities up to tertiary hospitals,” Defensor said in a video message posted at the Balita Halin sa Kapitolyo FB page.
A new initiative, according to the governor, is the establishment of Covid-19 critical care units (CCUs) at the Iloilo Provincial Hospital (IPH), Dr. Ricardo Y. Ladrido Memorial District Hospital (DRYLMDH), and other district hospitals as may be designated to prepare in treating severe and critical patients.
“This is an innovative step, creation of the Covid-19 critical care units in our Level 1 hospitals. This is both a part of the development of the Level 1 hospitals and also an emergency response in anticipation of the possible effect of the Delta variant,” he said.
Commonly, a Level 1 hospital offers the most basic medical services, does not have intensive care units (ICU), and caters to patients who need minor care and supervision.
The bed capacity of the IPH and district hospitals shall be ready to elevate their Covid-19 bed capacity up to 70 percent while the partnership on a referral system and resources sharing with the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC), West Visayas State University Medical Center (WVSUMC), and the Western Visayas Sanitarium (WVS) will be maximized.
Non-Covid-19 patients from the WVMC and WVSUMC will be accommodated at the IPH and district hospitals if they are capable of providing them with medical care.
The WVSUMC and WVMC will be capacitated to increase to 50 to 70 percent of their Covid-19 bed capacity by continued deployment of medical specialists.
The provincial government will also engage accommodation establishments (AEs) to be used as step-down facilities for recovered patients to decongest tertiary hospitals for the latter to focus on severe cases not only from the province but other areas in Panay, he added.
The AEs will be with ambulance, personnel, equipment, and supply, he said.
The management of the referral shall be handled by the Provincial Civil Defense Covid-19 Case Referral System (ProCiD CaReS).
The regional case bulletin released by the DOH Western Visayas Center for Health Development on Wednesday showed that Iloilo has recorded 179 new cases, increasing the province’s total active cases to 3,427.
It also has 534 deaths and 15, 513 recoveries.
Source: Philippines News Agency