The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has built additional COVID-19 treatment facilities at Batangas Medical Center in Batangas City.
Secretary and Isolation Czar Mark Villar said that off-site hospital buildings completed by the DPWH Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local/National Health Facilities together with Batangas 2nd District Engineering Office are being readied for operation to provide healthcare service to patients from Batangas and nearby province.
In preparation for hospital operation, Undersecretary and Task Force Head Emil Sadain together with Bureau of Construction Director Aristarco Doroy, Batangas 2nd District Engineer Sonia Paglicauan and Asst. District Engineer Mel Harvey Gonzales, and Batangas Medical Center (BatMC) Chief Dr. Ramoncito Magnaye conducted the final punch listing of completed temporary treatment facilities in a 3,678 square meter rotonda lot fronting BatMC.
“The facilities include 10 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) rooms with CCTV monitoring for moderate to severe patients and one unit with 21 rooms for isolation and monitoring of mild symptoms cases.”
In his report to Villar, Sadain said that three cluster facilities are completed including one unit with 10 Intensive Care Unit (ICU) rooms with closed circuit television (CCTV) monitoring for moderate to severe patients and one unit with 21 rooms for isolation and monitoring of mild symptoms cases.
Other than the treatment facilities for patients, a makeshift dormitory with 22 rooms dedicated to accommodate 44 healthcare professionals who will attend to patients was also completed.
“The facility should be ready by the first week of May.”
With completed civil works and medical equipment now being set-up, the facility should be ready by the first week of May 2021 to accommodate the surge in cases including spillover patients from Metro Manila and nearby provinces in the Southern Tagalog Region.
Magnaye expressed sincerest appreciation to DPWH led by the public works chief for finding ways to support the need for capacity expansion as the medical community of BatMC scrambles to find more space for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.