AFP to deploy 5 medical teams to help NCR hospitals

From the Philippine News Agency (Sep 24, 2021):  AFP to deploy 5 medical teams to help NCR hospitals (By Priam Nepomuceno)

AFP Surgeon General, Col. Fatima Claire Navarro (File photo)

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will deploy five medical teams to augment the manpower of hospitals in the National Capital Region that are dealing with a surge in coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients.

AFP Surgeon General, Col. Fatima Claire Navarro, said Friday two teams will come from the Philippine Army, and one each from the AFP Health Services Command, Philippine Navy, and Philippine Air Force.

"Each team will be composed of one doctor, one nurse, and three airmen," Navarro said in a statement.

The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID) will determine which medical facilities in the NCR will be augmented by the AFP’s medical contingent.

The deployment, which is similar to the AFP’s past missions in Cebu and Davao in 2020, is over and above its current distribution of medical front-liners in mega-swabbing and quarantine facilities in Metro Manila, she added.

The AFP, meanwhile, is expediting the processing of appointments for newly-recruited military doctors and nurses to beef up its medical corps.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar has committed the PNP’s Medical Reserve Force (MRF) for the purpose.

“In compliance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to assist in the government’s response on Covid-19, the Philippine National Police is committing its medical reserve force for augmentation to both public and private medical facilities amid reports of full capacity in hospitals and shortage of medical personnel. I have ordered our Administrative Support for Covid-19 Task Force led by Lt. Gen. Joselito Vera Cruz to coordinate with the Department of Health regarding this matter," Eleazar said in a statement.

To date, there are around 150 members of the MRF.

Eleazar said they will also do an accounting of PNP personnel with a medical background to augment the MRF.

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1154574