Before Duterte’s presidential address last night, Apr. 27, Department of Health Secretary Francisco Duque III stated that local government units are to set up mobile clinics to treat isolated groups.

Mobile clinics are vehicles that can travel around remote areas amid the enhanced community quarantine. According to Duque, it will be “equipped with a medical team that can provide healthcare services and mobile clinics may be a flexible and viable option for treating isolated and vulnerable groups.”

Duque also states that the provisions and implementations needed for operations of the mobile clinic are already being processed by local government units, including governors, city mayors and municipal mayors. The mobile clinics will have doctor consultation windows along with the necessary basic healthcare equipment. The medical team will consist of nurses, doctors, pharmacists and dentists.

To set up these clinics, the local government unit must ensure that the medical staff are wearing proper personal protective equipment (PPE). The consultation windows must have protective plastic coverings and the medical team must wear face shields or masks. The team will also follow social distancing measures—following a one meter distance from patients with only a limited number of patients to be accommodated per day to prevent mass gathering. There will also be security personnel to maintain order among patients.

[READ: ECQ extended for high-risk areas. Here’s a rundown of Duterte’s latest IATF briefing]

The mobile clinics will hopefully aid hospitals that have reached full capacity due to the pandemic as it will be treating ailments and illnesses that are unrelated to COVID-19 as well.

President Duterte also stated that the government will be providing more PPEs to healthcare workers and other frontliners, including those in farther provinces.

Header photo courtesy of Niño Jesus Orbeta from Inquirer.net

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