THE CITY government has added five more temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMFs), as the Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC) is teetering on the edge in terms of maxing out its full capacity.
The recent surge in the number of cases in Davao City will only mean that the SPMC would not be able to handle the deluge of patients.
Mayor Sara Duterte said the City Health Office (CHO) has already arranged for all asymptomatic patients who do not need hospital care to be taken to the temporary facilities.
“Daghan mga asymptomatic nga wala gyud silay gibati, so ang buhaton is dili na sila ipadala didto sa SPMC. Kuhaon sila nato and i-process sila sa City Health Office, and then i-assign sila og TTMF (Many asymptomatic patients do not feel anything, so they wouldn’t be brought to the SPMC anymore. We will take them and the City Health Office will process them before being assigned to a TTMF),” she said.
The SMPC will only cater to patients who are severe or in critical condition, or asymptomatic but belong to the vulnerable sector or those with comorbidities.
As of noon of Oct. 26, 25 of the 30 ICU beds of the SPMC are already occupied, while only 30 of its total 279 ward beds are available. The government hospital has recorded an 83.33% and 89.25% occupancy rates for its ICU and ward beds.
11 in total
Once the five additional TTMFs are operational, the city will have a total of 11 treatment facilities.
“Ang duha is a donated facility by a private sector, and then naa’y three na gikuha sa city government of Davao (Two of the additional facilities are donated by the private sector and the other three were acquired by the city government of Davao),” she said.
She said that the six existing facilities have a capacity of 379 beds. As of 6 a.m. of October 26, the existing facilities have 175 available beds.
Recently, the city was permitted to allow double-deck beds in some of the facilities to cater to more patients.
The city has also acquired 1,400 contact tracers from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to handle the increasing number of COVID-19 cases.
“Sa kadaghan sa atong cases, mag-increase pa na sya kay each tao can infect several others. Kung naa tay 837 active cases, thousands ang ginapangita nato nga possibly infected (The number will still increase since one person can infect several others. If we have 837 active cases, thousands are being traced that are possibly infected),” the mayor said.
Numbers quadruple
Davao City had 108 new active cases on Oct. 25, 118 on Oct. 24, 76 on Oct. 23, and 73 on Oct. 22.
The city has a total of 3,228 total cases, 2,251 total recoveries, and 140 total deaths.
“There is an obvious surge from 200 to over 800 in one month,” she said.
Of the 837, she bared that these came from the barangays with double and triple-digit cases.
Barangay Buhangin topped the list followed by Bucana, 23-C, Tomas Monteverde Sr., Sasa, Maa, 19-B, Leon Garcia, Talomo Poblacion, Matina Crossing, Panacan, 22-C, Cabantian, 51-A, Catalunan Grande, Toril Poblacion, Matina Aplaya, Tigatto, Indangan, 21-C, Angliongto Sr, Mintal, Tacunan, Paciano Bangoy, Agdao Proper, San Antonio, Daliao, Ilang, 8-A, Pampanga, 20-B, Tibungco, Vicente Hizon, Baliok, 26-C, Wilferedo Aquino, Centro, 25-C, Communal, Bago Aplaya, Bunawan, Matina Pangi, Bago Gallera, Calinan, Mandug, Talomo Proper, Sto. Niño, 37-D, Lizada, Lapu-Lapu, 11-B, Catalunan Pequeño, 31-D, Governor Vicente Duterte, Dumoy, 10-A, Rafael Castillo, 9-A, 28-C, Bago Oshiro, 27-C, Lubogan, 2-A, and 7-A.
Tracing the contacts of the COVID-19 positive patients remains a daunting task. But she hopes that the Davao QR (quick response) code system, which is currently under pilot testing by the local government, would fast-track the contact tracing once it is fully operational.
