AS CASES continue to surge in Davao Region, the Department of Health (DOH) said the region's critical care utilization rate for all designated Covid-19 beds is under critical level.
On Monday, June 28, DOH-Davao Director Annabelle Yumang reported that as of Saturday, June 26, the entire 188 intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the region are 94.4 percent fully occupied. Only 10 ICU beds are available in the region.
Isolation beds are 67.1 percent occupied, wherein 254 out of the 710 available.
Ward beds are 76.9 percent occupied, leaving 139 out 665 beds available.
Mechanical ventilators are already 71.4 percent occupied, leaving only 16 out of the 54 ventilators available.
According to DOH’s critical utilization rate, an occupancy level that is between 71 and 100 percent is considered a "danger zone" level. An occupancy rate level between 31 to 70 percent is considered a "warning zone," and under "safe zone" when it is from 1 to 30 percent.
Yumang said during a virtual presser that public and private hospitals are struggling to expand their beds and facilities.
Under the One Hospital Command Center set up, private hospitals are required to allocate 20 percent of their total beds for Covid-19 patients.
She admitted expanding bed capacities remains a challenge until now due to lack of manpower.
“Some of the hospitals, wala pa ni sila kakab-ot. Usa ni ka factor nga ningtaas kaayo atong healthcare utilization rate sa region (They were not able to expand, which is one of the factors why there is a high utilization rate in the region),” Yumang said.
The health official said there are ongoing talks with One Hospital to address this issue.
Yumang said DOH has provided nurses and nursing attendants to private hospitals in Davao City. However, she admitted this is not adequate.
She also said their office provided mechanical ventilators for private hospitals.
DOH also provided additional funding to the Southern Philippines Medical Center and Davao Regional Medical Center to purchase additional medicines, including remdesivir.
"We also provided funds for them this June para makahire sila og (so they can hire) additional nurses and nursing attendants na magamit sa ilang (that can be deployed in their) hospitals," Yumang said.
Based on the DOH-Davao data as of June 27, the region has a total of 40,959 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Of this number, active cases are 9,870, total recoveries at 29,715, and deaths at 1,374.