In my email his morning; (11-12-20) it was not signed off so I do not know the author but it came from the Manila VA OPC. I’m very pleased to share some positive updates with you all regarding our operating status. Effective November 23, 2020, VA Manila will be expanding our available in-person appointments to include 5-day/week primary care availability. The US Embassy recently approved VA Manila’s plan to expand our on-site staffing presence from 50% to 80% - and with this approved additional staffing, we can now provide daily primary care appointments for all of our primary care teams. While we will have all of our primary care providers reporting daily, we will still be limiting the number of Veterans who are reporting to the Clinic on a daily basis to ensure we can enforce physical distancing within the Clinic. To that end, our primary care providers will offer in-person appointments for half of the day, and continue to offer telephone appointments the other half of the day. I anticipate that we will continue to provide this level of service for the next several months, until there is more containment of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines, and the availability of a vaccine.
