INTER-AGENCY Task Force (IATF) chief implementer Major General (retired) Mel Feliciano highlighted 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, September 29, 2020.
“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,” said Feliciano.
In adopting the OHCC, which was patterned after that of Cebu City, Feliciano said Bacolod was able to decongest hospitals.
“When we arrived in Bacolod, the CUR (capacity utilization rate) of hospitals was about 99 percent. There were only two beds left available and many of the patients were not accommodated,” Feliciano said.
According to him, the current hospital capacity utilization rate (CUR) in Bacolod has now gone down to about 79 percent.
“When this One Hospital Command Center was established, there were complementary efforts made by different hospitals. We were also able to place a referral system on the ground where we refer the patients before admitting them to tertiary hospitals,” said Feliciano.
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,” said Feliciano.
He said they will be doubling their efforts on index cases that are unknown of 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.
In this connection, 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," he added.
“We’re happy that the man behind that success is with us. Come to think about it. This is the team sent by President Duterte together with Secretary Roy Cimatu, Secretary Mike Dino and Secretary Charlie Galvez, Jr... Many in the Philippines need Gen. Feliciano but where is he now? He’s not in Luzon. He’s not in Mindanao. He is in Bacolod City,” Leonardia said.
According to the mayor, the City Government will “make the most out of Feliciano’s presence” in Bacolod. He also appealed for support and cooperation from all sectors.
Attending the ceremonial launch 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 Department of the Interior and Local Government-Bacolod City Director Ma. Joy Maredith Madayag.
The event was also attended by barangay captains and EOC private volunteer consultants Dr. Hector Gayares and Dr. Chris Sorongon - deputies for medical; and John Dave Dueñas - deputy for data collection and management. (PR)