The Philippine Army will deploy three more medical teams here to augment health care workers catering to coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients in various hospitals.

Mayor Evelio Leonardia said Thursday the impending arrival of the additional manpower was confirmed by Lt. Gen. Roberto Ancan, commander of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Central Command, based in Cebu City.

“The teams will augment our local hospitals’ health care manpower complement,” Leonardia added.

Each team will have one doctor, four nurses, and a still-unspecified number of aide personnel.

He said the three teams would replace the two teams deployed to the city in the last week of August once the latter’s tour of duty ends.

The initial two teams, with six members each, were assigned to two private hospitals in the city.

Each team was composed of one doctor, two nurses, and three aide men.

One was dispatched to the Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital (Riverside Medical Center) while the other was deployed to the Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital.

The deployment of augmentation health care personnel to Bacolod came as part of the response to Leonardia’s appeal for assistance from President Rodrigo Duterte in August.

Last month, the Department of Health (DOH) 7 (Central Visayas) deployed 15 nurses to Bacolod through the assistance of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas headed by Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino, which is part of the Cebu team assisting Bacolod in its battle against Covid-19.

Leonardia had also asked the National Task Force (NTF) Against Covid-19 to deploy more nurses to hospitals in Bacolod as the city government continues to strengthen efforts to reduce local cases of Covid-19.

As of Wednesday night, Bacolod has recorded 4,025 confirmed Covid-19 cases, including 1,169 active cases, 2,775 recoveries, and 81 deaths.

The recovered cases comprise 68.94 percent of the total positive cases. (PNA)