NEW ISOLATION FACILITY. A 28-bed patient care center is being constructed in Upper Puerto, Cagayan de Oro City to handle Covid-19 patients in the city and neighboring areas. Northern Mindanao’s task force addressing the Covid-19 crisis said Friday (Oct. 30, 2020) it has partnered with the Department of Public Works and Highways to over 500 isolation facilities in the region since March. (Photo courtesy of DPWH-10)
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Northern Mindanao’s task force addressing the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) crisis said Friday it has partnered with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to complete over 500 isolation facilities in the region since March.
DPWH-10 (Northern Mindanao) information officer Vinah Maghinay said in October alone, some 300 patient care centers were built in Lanao del Norte, and 240 in Iligan City.
Apart from these, DPWH-10 said another 60 patient care facilities were built in Lanao del Sur, in collaboration with other national agencies and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and Task Force Bangon Marawi.
Maghinay said the construction of at least 56 patient care centers is also ongoing in Barangay Macasandig and Upper Puerto here and in Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental.
Patient care centers are also being proposed in Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, she said.
To ensure that patient care centers are built fast and according to specifications, Maghinay said the DPWH would only release funds after exhaustive inspections of a completed project.
Meanwhile, Department of Health 10 Director Adriano Suba-an on Friday lauded the Iligan City government for converting unused spaces into isolation or temporary treatment and monitoring facilities for Covid-19 cases.
Suba-an also cited Cagayan de Oro's initiative in establishing an additional 75-bed capacity isolation unit in Barangay San Simon.
"That will not just end as an emerging and re-emerging infectious disease facility as it may evolve as the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine of the south," he said of Cagayan de Oro's patient care centers. (PNA)
