Symptomatic patients increasing, new isolation facility eyed

Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan inside the city’s isolation facility during its blessing last May 14, 2020. | Junard “Ahong” Chan Facebook page.

CEBU CITY, Philippines— Dr. Ronald Oporto, hospital administrator of Lapu-Lapu City, has told mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan that they are planning to make another isolation facility for symptomatic patients.

Oporto together with DRRMO head Nagiel Bañacia attended the online meeting with the mayor on Monday morning, June 15, 2020, and expressed his desire in transforming the adjacent building from the Lapu-Lapu City College, which now holds asymptomatic patients to a new isolation building for symptomatic patients.

Read more: Contact tracing, mass testing caused rise in Lapu’s cases

“As of today patients coming in from the different barangays because of positive results of COVID, some of them manifest the symptoms, mild to moderate symptoms.

The increasing number of patients coming in is (a) great concern right now because we don’t have enough facility or space that the hospital can provide by now,” said Oporto.

Oporto said that the DRRMO and his team have already met last week and was now presenting their plans to take this course of action to the mayor before hospitals and their isolation facility would reach its maximum capacity.

Read more: Lapu-Lapu reports 45 families under lockdown

As of today, Bañacia reported that they have already reached 50 percent of the capacity of the isolation center.

“We were thinking that we could use the adjacent building of the city college as a temporary shelter isolation center for patients having symptoms already, which is mild to moderate, (and) suggested putting hospital staff from the city hospital to give assistance to these patients,”

Along with this contingency plan is putting up two more air-conditioned tents outside the facility to cater to more patients and ensure that they are getting the right treatments.

Chan said that his only concern about adding a new isolation facility for the symptomatic patients was the staff who would be assigned to take care of these patients since the city now would have its hands tied with regards to hospital staff.

“I think ang kato atong COVID team which is the one manning the COVID patients or the possible COVID patients adto na lang nato ibutang didto sa area (na) mas dako ang lugar, and we will be concentrating more on the patients that are positive and mild symptomatics ato nga area, para patients nga coming in our hospitals would be normal cases, if possible lang,” said Oporto.

(I think our COVID team, which is the one manning the COVID patients or the possible COVID patients should be the ones placed in the bigger area, and we will be concentrating more on the patients that are positive and mild symptomatic so that patients coming in our hospitals would be normal cases.)/dbs