Improvement of home care program eyed

City officials requested the City Health Services Office (CHSO) to provide the local legislative body with an updated or comprehensive report on the implementation of the city’s home care program and its recommendations on how to make this more effective and efficient in addressing the recovery requirements of sick patients.

Under Resolution No. 257, series of 2022, local legislators recognized the importance of the implementation of the home care program during the recent surges in Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases that helped in preventing congestions in the various health facilities and isolation centers as many of the asymptomatic patients were simply advised to undergo home isolation under the supervision of members of the barangay health emergency teams (BHERTs).

Earlier, the body adopted Resolution No. 033, series of 2022, which urged the government health agencies and private medical facilities and practitioners in the city to provide home care programs for the COVID-19 affected persons considering the enormous effect of the previous surges in cases to the capacity of the hospitals and isolation centers so that only the ones that need close medical attention should be the ones in the said facilities.

However, the said resolution was returned unsigned because the community home isolation-based program and telemedicine are considered home care programs for COVID-19 patients which were already being practiced by the city government during the previous surges in cases.

The council requested local health authorities to make a comprehensive report on the implementation of the aforesaid home care programs and detailing their recommendations on how to further improve the said programs for the possible enactment of appropriate legislative measures that will institutionalize it for the welfare of the greater majority, especially those contracting illnesses that compromise their health condition. – Dexter A. See