The Cagayan de Oro City Health Office reported that there were 135 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as active cases rose to 1,517.
The health office said a total of 492 patients have been admitted at the NMMC and other private hospitals.
Rocha said under Code Red, the NMMC is increasing its hospital beds dedicated for COVID-19 cases to 70 percent, or 210 beds.
He said in the previous Code Red when cases first surged in June, NMMC dedicated 50 percent of its beds for COVID-19. “But now we want to be ahead of things so we increased it to 70 percent,” Rocha pointed out.
The beds for critical care COVID-19 patients were likewise increased to 66 percent, or 140 beds, Rocha said.
He said that going Code Read means they will have to sacrifice other services of the hospital, like suspending all elective surgeries and reducing outpatient services.
Rocha advised patients needing consultation to instead avail of their “Telekonsulta” services.[]
“Inquiries can be done on Facebook, then you will be directed to our teleconsultation services so specialists can attend to you,” he said.
The doctor said that with Code Red, they are also increasing their medical supplies. He said they have 53 mechanical ventilators but would be buying more.
“We have limited test kits but we are trying to procure as much as we can because we want to increase testing capacity,” Rocha said. He admitted that as of now, the NMMC is still not into testing asymptomatic patients because of this limitation, and is thus prioritizing symptomatic patients.
He said that as they increase bed capacity for COVID-19 patients to 70 percent, then 70 percent of the staff will also be devoted to COVID-19 cases.[]
