CEBU, Philippines — Cebu City is ringing the alarm bells anew as it battles a resurgence of coronavirus cases with at least 415 new cases logged on Sunday, August 1, 2021 alone. As of that day, the city has a total of 2,942 active cases.
Adding to the problem is the lack of medical personnel at hospitals, particularly nurses, prompting the Department of Health (DOH)-7 to appeal for fresh graduates to heed the call for service.
The lack of personnel is said to be the reason hospitals can no longer accommodate patients even if they have beds and rooms available.
The problem, DOH-7 Director Jaime Bernadas said, is that DOH is having a difficult time convincing nurses to join the fold. It is hiring at least 50 but only eight have applied as of August 2.
“Please respond at this time... we need you... this is what we are trying to prepare for. This is what you are looking for, getting a degree in medical or para-medical courses. This is the call of the time. We have to respond because nobody else will. You are in the best position to respond because you have studied for it, so, tanan nga mga health workers, we do our part. This is our time to shine and this is our time to labor and this is our time to sacrifice more,” Bernadas said during a press conference on Monday, August 2.
He tackled the problem on nurses following the situation at Chong Hua Hospital in Cebu City on Sunday, August 1, where patients were seen falling in line in their cars outside the emergency room while attached to oxygen tanks. Others were seen lying on mattresses on the sidewalk right outside the hospital.
The hospital’s costumer care relations officer, Chokie Ortiz, told The Freeman the following day that the patients, at least 23 of them, were eventually accommodated into the emergency room and were later admitted. The patients reportedly came from other hospitals that could no longer accommodate them.
Morning of August 2, families of other sick individuals, both from Cebu City and Province, who could no longer be accommodated at hospitals were seen buying oxygen so they could manage their patients home.
Help from National Gov’t
Councilor Dave Tumulak was vocal in calling for help from the national government.
“Makita naman nato ang tanan... manghinaot lang ta nga naay hinabang atong national government sa atong dakbayan pagdugang og mga doctors ug nurses diri sa atong mga tambalanan,” he said on Monday.
Acting Mayor Michael Rama, meanwhile, said he has communicated with environment secretary Roy Cimatu and asked that the latter take a look at the situation in the city when he visits for the inauguration of sorts of the Abellana National School as a field hospital.
Cimatu was named COVID-19 overseer in 2020 and was instrumental in leading government forces in enforcing protocols in Cebu at the time the city was tagged as epicenter of the pandemic in June that year.
Rama said he has also asked hospital owners to connect with hospitals from other regions with fewer coronavirus cases and ask for help.
“I hope the other regions will also help us just like what Cebu did to Manila (when they got overwhelmed with COVID-19),” Rama said.
Region 7 sent nurses to the National Capital Region in April 2021 while the capital was battling a surge of cases.
But the battle is far from over for NCR. In fact, the region will undergo two weeks of the strictest enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), which is why Bernadas said it might be best to get manpower from Region 7 for now.
"We are harnessing our resources muna because we still have a lot of nurses in our area.... we just got to convince them to join us because a lot of them have been already tried for recruitment but a lot of them also have refused to do so," he said.
“Daghan pa ta og nurses... sila lang dapat ang mo-join nato before we get help from other areas,” he added.
Several nurses have resigned from the city hospital after their salary was delayed for four months. Private hospitals also saw resignations in recent months.
Other problems
Aside from medical frontliners, Tumulak said the city also needs more medical equipment like personal protective equipment and medicines. He is hoping for the national government to provide the same as the process will take long if the city starts purchasing on its own.
“Taas kaayo'g process kung kita pay mupalit… kanang Remdesivir, in particular, kinahanglan kaayo na’s mga hospitals karon, especially sa pasyente sa COVID-19,” he told The Freeman.
The Cebu City Council has passed Supplemental Budget 1 amounting to P4.4 billion where P1.5 billion is intended for pandemic related response such as P1 billion for the completion of the new CCMC building, P143 million aid to barangays, and P280 million as disaster fund.
Oxygen supply
Bernadas assured that Cebu does not have a shortage of oxygen supply.
“For now, we do not see the shortage but we have an inventory… we have collected the need for oxygen, etc… we are compiling them. We have instructed the different hospitals to have the buffer stocks throughout our command,” he said on Monday.
He reminded those who are buying oxygen for family members at home:
“Nakikita ko sa social media na may mga bumibili nang oxygen but I have to remind them now to please do that very carefully. Do that with the medical personnel supervision because oxygen is flammable and there will be a greater risk of accidents,” Bernadas said.
Situation
Latest data from the DOH COVID-19 tracker showed that two hospitals are on a critical situation - either on a brink of getting full or already filled up. Three are at high risk, three are at moderate risk, while the rest are still at low risk level.
However, most of them do not have ICU beds for COVID-19.
For Cebu island in general, critical care utilization rate is now at 60.2 percent with 65 percent in ICU beds.
Bernadas appealed to the public to not put hospitals in a bad light as they are also doing their best to help address the situation.
Cebu City, Mandaue City, and Lapu-Lapu City have been placed under MECQ for 15 days from August 1 to 15, 2021.
As of August 1, Lapu-Lapu has 1,185 active cases; Mandaue has 1,018 active cases; and Cebu Province has 3,037 active cases.
Based on data from the Cebu City Emergency Operations Center, positivity rate has gone up to 20.70 percent, way beyond the W.H.O. threshold with 413 patients turning out positive out of 1,995 tested.
The 413 fresh cases on August 1 was the most number Cebu City recorded since the start of the pandemic. The highest it logged in a day previously was 353.
Only five of the city’s 80 barangays are without active cases in the past 10 days. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon and Decemay P. Padilla, JMO (FREEMAN)