Team effort needed to win fight vs. Covid-19

Sotto said the local government is strengthening its triaging efforts for its residents. (File photo: Vico Sotto/Facebook)

MANILA – Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto said Thursday winning the fight against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) requires team effort among the national government, local government units (LGUs) and the private sector.

“Wala pong playbook. Hindi po naranasan ito ng mayors before us (There is no playbook. The mayors before us didn’t experience it)…(so) we are figuring things out as we go. But thankfully we have the national government, the private sector that is also helping the LGUs. Team effort po talaga ang kailangang gawin (team effort is what we need to do),” Sotto said in a virtual briefing in Malacañang.

Sotto, however, noted that there is a framework in place to help the government contain the spread of Covid-19.

“We may not have a very accurate playbook because it did not happen before, but… more or less we already have a framework and we already know what to do which include test, trace and isolate,” Sotto said, citing some health and socio-economic efforts of the Pasig City government in containing the spread of the virus.

In the city, Sotto said they have been implementing “triaging effort” wherein persons who called the city’s Covid-19 hotline or infected persons who go to the health centers and hospitals, are immediately brought to the government quarantine facilities, to ensure that they will not infect others in their community.

Sotto said the local government is strengthening its triaging efforts for its residents.

Pasig’s quarantine houses in Dahlia Hotel are dedicated to probable and suspected Covid-19 cases, Sotto said, while the city’s centralized quarantine facility in Rizal High School is dedicated to those with mild symptoms and asymptomatic patients.

Those severe and critical patients are confined to Pasig’s referral center for Covid-19, he said.

Sotto said the establishment of the Pasig’s referral facility allows the local government to increase the city’s healthcare capacity to take in Covid-19 patients.

“So far we have 135 beds including the converted hallways that…we have beds there now wherein 86 are occupied and 49 beds remain vacant,” he said. “This is one of the best decisions we made in Pasig, it allows us to treat more Covid-19 patients, it allowed us to reduce the risks of contamination to non-Covid patients, and importantly, it allowed us to maintain the services of our general hospital. Overall it allows us to use our resources more efficiently.”

‘Oplan Kalinga’

On the other hand, Sotto said the Oplan Kalinga will be smoothly implemented in the city and assured the public that no one will be arrested under the program.

“Huwag po silang mag-alala, in close cooperation with the national government, ipapatupad po ito ng Pasig (they should not worry about it, Pasig will implement this in close cooperation with the national government) … we try to make our centralized quarantine as lively, as comfortable for our patients. Hindi po ito parang ikukulong ang mga pasyente natin (this is not like prisoning the patients),” he said.

“In fact, this is for their [patients] own benefit. I hope everyone will cooperate. Rest assured, this is for the benefit not only of the patients but also the [whole] community in general,” he added.

Sotto reminded the public of their responsibilities and contributions to the responses on coronavirus crisis.

“We need to do our part. Wear masks, do proper hand washing, and social distancing. I am sure that we will be able to surpass the Covid-19,” he said.

Referral facility

Meanwhile, Sotto said the city’s referral facility for Covid-19 patients is nearing its full capacity, citing similar issues and concerns with other hospitals in the National Capital Region (NCR).

In a Facebook post, Sotto shared an internal document showing the total bed capacity of the city’s Covid-19 referral center at the Pasig City Children’s Hospital (PCCH).

“While the establishment of our Covid-19 referral Center has increased our local healthcare system’s capacity, we are also nearing our limits,” he said.

The document stated that only 49 beds remain vacant out of the total 135 beds dedicated to coronavirus patients.

“The Covid-19 referral center refers to a hospital that is purely dedicated to Covid-19 concerns. We have one in PCCH. We are actually one of the few LGUs that can do this,” he said.

“Overall, I have to admit that the numbers are not that comforting. Social distancing, handwashing, etc. are more important than ever. But in cooperation with the national government and the private sector, we will keep working hard to make things better,” said Sotto, citing a total of 405 active cases in Pasig as of July 15.

Pasig’s latest data recorded a total of 1,144 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with 646 recoveries and 93 deaths.