MANDALUYONG CITY -- The Philippine Red Cross (PRC) has a specialized ambulance fleet composed of six (6) Negative Pressure Ambulance (NPA) units manned by trained emergency medical services (EMS) personnel to cope with the current war against the pandemic.

As of August 16, 2021, the NPA fleet has serviced 199 COVID-19 patients, 166 of whom were indigents and given free service. With the surge of COVID cases and the appearance of other variants in various parts of the country, PRC is truly making good use of these emergency vehicles and plans to purchase three (3) more of these specialized ambulances.

"Currently, we have six negative pressure [ambulances] in our fleet. Habang tumataas ang daily cases natin, kailangan na kailangan ang mga specialized ambulance na ito sa mga apektadong lugar, kaya naman bibili pa tayo." said PRC Chairman and CEO Richard J. Gordon.

"These emergency vehicles are put to good use. Nagbibigay na tayo ng libreng serbisyo para sa mga indigent COVID patients natin dito sa Metro Manila, sa Cagayan de Oro, Olongapo, Bacolod, at sa Cebu. Yung mga parating na bagong NPA idedeploy natin sa iba ay pang mga siyudad at probinsiya," added Gordon.

PRC's negative pressure ambulance units are acquired through the donation from Australian Aid, Bloomberry Foundation, and the Security Bank Foundation Inc.

"The Negative Pressure Ambulance units are valuable assets in fighting highly communicable diseases during these times when we are battling the COVID-19 outbreak. It serves as another layer of protection as it protects patients and our EMTs from cross-contaminating one another," said Mr. Von Ryan Ong, PRC Safety Services Manager, when asked how important these vehicles are in fighting the spread of COVID.

These vehicles are equipped with tools like a negative pressure cabin and a patient isolation chamber which lowers the air pressure, and disinfects and filters the air. (Philippine Red Cross)