DOH raises COVID-19 bed allocation for hospitals

July 22, 2020

The Department of Health ( DOH) required hospitals to set aside by much as 70 percent of their facilities for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients.

In a virtual press briefing, Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire said the DOH changed guidelines on the COVID-19 bed allocation in public and private hospitals.

"For public hospitals, they are mandated 30 percent of their bed capacity ...for COVID-19. If there will be a surge in cases, it can be increased to 50 percent, and up to 70 percent if necessary," said Vergeire.

"For private hospitals, we have also amended the policy with 20 percent allocated beds for COVID-19, and an additional 10 percent if there will be a surge in cases," said Vergeire.

Vereire said DOH also asked hospitals planning to expand their facilities to COVID-19 patients for the meantime.

This, she said, means those with new buildings or hospital wings that will be opened in the coming days should be used in accepting COVID-19 patients as part of the government's "One Hospital Command" system.

"There are hospitals where they have new buildings or additional wings that are set to be opened and they will now be solely dedicated for COVID-19," said Vergeire.

"Hopefully, in the coming weeks, we can already open them in the hospitals so that we can increase the capacity for our patients," she added.

The DOH, as of July 20, said a total of 674 ICU beds are occupied out of 1,371 (49 percent); 2,160 ward beds are occupied out of 3,766 (57 percent); and 5,138 isolation beds are occupied out of 10,635 (48 percent). DMS