By Fernan Angeles
MALACAÑANG hinted at the idea of imposing a breather for the depleted fleet of health front liners, who have been working long hours for less in the last seven months.
However, the Philippine Hospitals Association said that it may not be feasible for the time being as the shortage in hospital workers remains a problem with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.
Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque had proposed a break for hospital front liners, claiming only about 50 percent of ward, isolation, and ICU beds dedicated to COVID-19 patients are currently occupied across the country amid an infection downtrend.
PHA President Dr. Jaime Almora said apart from attending to patients infected with COVID-19, medical front liners also need to respond to the increasing number of non-coronavirus cases like heart attacks and strokes.
“As long as there is a case remaining, people will still be needed to attend to them. Because there is a shortage of manpower, should their services be not needed to attend to COVID-19 cases, there are many other non-COVID-19 patients that they have to attend to,” Almora said in a television interview.
Hospitals should also be prepared for possible intermittent surges in COVID-19 patients, he added.
“The way patients arrive, though it is true that there is a decreasing number of COVID-19 cases in the hospitals, the arrival of these cases is unpredictable. Pabugso-bugso (inconsistent), that’s why they need to be ready,” he said.
He however clarified that he is hopeful that there would come a time during the pandemic where front liners could take a break. “But as it is, it remains far-fetched as they struggle to provide quality care for every patient with the manpower available.”
“I wish it will come true but the business of healing is not that simple, it’s not about numbers, it’s about quality. So it doesn’t matter whether there is one patient or there are 10 patients…. The number of people in a team, because this is a team approach, will still remain the same,” he said.
In August, medical front liners sought a timeout from the unending crisis and urged government to raise the quarantine level following a surge in COVID-19 cases because of relaxed restrictions. This prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to place Metro Manila and surrounding provinces back under modified enhanced community quarantine for two weeks.
As of Friday, the country has recorded 351,750 total coronavirus infections, 294,865 recoveries and 6,531 fatalities. Active cases, meanwhile, reached 50,354.