NARARAPAT umanong palakasin at ipagsabay ngayong panahon ng extension ng Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) ang healthcare capacity at mass testing kontra sa mga COVID-19 infection.
Ito ang iginigiit ni House Ways and Means Committee Chairman at Albay Representative Joey Salceda kaugnay sa pagpapalawig pa ng ECQ sa tinaguriang “NCR Plus” bubble.
“The very premise of extensions is that they are time bought to prepare a stronger healthcare response. If there will be no changes in our ICU capacity, we will merely be deferring new surges of infection for later.” pahayag ni Salceda.
Giit pa ni Salceda na ikonsidera ng Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) ang mga force multipliers ng healthcare system kabilang ang telemedicine, door-to-door shipping ng mga kinakailangan ng isang pasyente kabilang na ang mga oxygen tanks.
Dapat din aniya na mayroong treatment facilities ang mga isolation center upang dito na gamutin ang mild hanggang moderate na mga kaso ng COVID-19 at hindi na kailangang dalhin pa sa mga ospital na ngayon ay nagsasara na ng espasyo dahil puno na ang bed capacity.
“The utilization rate of our government-built isolation centers hovers just above 10 percent. Cases are isolation either at home or are in hospitals seeking treatment. We need to consider fully equipping our isolation centers so that they can also already serve as treatment centers for non-severe cases,” gagdag pa ni Salceda.
“Lockdown extensions without healthcare expansion will gradually asphyxiate our economy. So, if we will extend the lockdown for another round, we should make the extension worth the pain,” pagtatapos ng ekonomista.