Iloilo City prepares more beds, oxygen tanks

The Iloilo City government is preparing additional beds and oxygen tanks for designated quarantine facilities to manage moderate and mild COVID-19 cases and eventually, decongest crowded city hospitals.

According to Mayor Jerry Treñas, they decided to equip quarantine facilities in the hopes of easing the high occupancy rate of hospitals and lower the city’s health care utilization rate (HCUR) which has been the basis for its Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) status.

“It’s about time ang mga moderate, mild pakadtuon na lang sa facilities. We don’t want moderate, mild makadto sa hospital bangod puno na ini sang cases halin sa probinsya. We will take care of them sa quarantine facilities,” Treñas said in a media interview Tuesday.

According to the mayor, they are preparing 50 oxygen containers to be stationed at quarantine facilities of the metro.

Treñas added that he is in talks with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Region 6 for the provision of additional beds to the city’s quarantine facility at Brgy. So-oc, Arevalo.

“Nagaistorya kita kay Lea Delfinado sang DPWH para sa dugang nga beds sa aton quarantine facility sa So-oc. May additional rooms man sila nga pagatukuron,” he said.

Last January, DPWH-6 turned over a quarantine facility and an off-site dormitory for medical workers to the Iloilo City government.

The quarantine facility has 16 rooms complete with comfort rooms, water tank, sanitation area, septic tank, a nurse station with a male and female nurse room.

The mayor said they need to decongest city hospitals to lower its HCUR, which is one of the bases of community quarantine classifications in the country.

Treñas lamented that the high HCUR in the city was due to admission of patients from the neighboring provinces of Iloilo, Aklan, and Guimaras which accounted for 70% of the total admissions in city hospitals.

Currently, designated quarantine facilities in the city have 1,500-bed capacity.

Based on data from the health department’s Quarantine Facility Management, 214 positive patients are in the quarantine facilities while 477 individuals are on home quarantine. (ERS)