COVID-19 admissions in private hospitals are slowly rising, but remained manageable, the Private Hospitals Association of the Philippines Inc. (PHAPI) said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. renewed his appeal to the Departments of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Department of Health (DOH) to fast-track the release of COVID allowances due an estimated 20,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) nationwide.
“For now, the admissions in private hospitals are manageable but there is a gradual and continuous rise in the number of patients,” PHAPI president Dr. Jose Rene de Grano said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB.
De Grano said hospital occupancy has reached 50 percent in some hospitals, but most reported less than 20 percent.
“Right now, we see that the highest occupancy is 50 percent. But for most hospitals, it is still less than 20 percent, he noted.
De Grano said PHAPI member-hospitals have been continuing the restrictions regarding visitors which was implemented at the onset of the pandemic.
“For the protection of patients, as much as possible, we restrict visitors, he added.
He also said most of those admitted due to COVID were brought to hospitals for other reasons, but tested positive for the novelcoronavirus.
“All hospitals are ready (should there be more COVID patients.) Their COVID areas and wards are always open,” he said.
“We screen the patients if they will be admitted or not. If a patient shows only mild symptoms that can be treated at home, we advised them to isolate at home,” De Grano said.
The Philippines on Friday registered 2,106 new COVID infections, while active cases also rose to 16,577.
This was the second straight day of more than 2,000 new infections recorded, data showed.
Based on the DOH’s latest figures, the fresh cases brought the country’s caseload to 4,123,636.
The country’s active tally also jumped to 16,577 from 16,504 on Thursday, the latest figures indicated.
Villafuerte said the HCWs deserve to get the extra pay as mandated by Republic Act (RA) 11712 or the Public Health Emergency Benefits and Allowances for Health Care Workers Act that was passed years back at the height of the pandemic.
“It is our hope that the DOH and the DBM would manage to scour the national budget for funds and tweak budgetary procedures to finally release almost P2 billion in delayed allowances due an estimated 20,000-plus medical frontliners,” said Villafuerte, one of the authors of RA 11712.
Under RA 11712, HCWs are entitled to a monthly allowance equivalent to P3,000 for those in in low-risk areas; P6,000 for those in moderate-risk areas; and P9,000 for medial frontliners in high-risk places.
HCWs are supposed to receive the benefits for the duration of the state of the calamity attributed to the pandemic.
Then-President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation 929 on March 16, 2020 declaring a six-month state of calamity across the country due to COVID.
The state of calamity was then extended for another year to Sept. 12, 2021 under Proclamation 1021, and again for one more year up to Sept. 12, 2022 under Proclamation No. 1218.
President Marcos extended the state of calamity till end-December 2022, and announced that HCWs would continue to receive their COVID allowances even if the state of calamity was no longer in effect in 2023.
Villafuerte cited a United Private Hospital Unions of the Philippines (UPHUP) report which showed that 20,304 HCWs have yet to receive their mandated Covid-19 allowances and other benefits totaling P1.94 billion dating back from October 2021 onwards.
The UPHUP was reported recently in the media as baring that the arrears totaled P1.84 billion—comprising One COVID allowance worth P985.6 million; P737.5 million-worth of health emergency allowance, special risk allowance totaling 16.8 million; and meals, accommodation and transportation benefits reaching P6.7 million.
The intended HCW-beneficiaries were working in 23 private hospitals in Metro Manila and in Batangas, Cavite, Cebu and Davao del Sur, according to the UPHUP report.
Villafuerte said one of the options being eyed by the DOH to speed up the release of the Covid-19 allowances and other benefits for HCWs is to amend its joint administrative order with the DBM by tapping authorized government depository banks to clear the way to the direct payment of the OCA and other benefits to the medical frontliners.
Citing DOH data, the UPHUP claimed that just P26.9 billion or 64 percent of the P41.9 billion set aside under the 2023 General Appropriations Act had been released so far by the government.