By Joseph B.A. Marzan
Iloilo City will soon have its own coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing laboratory and an isolation center for patients, as announced by Mayor Jerry Treñas in a press conference on May 18, 2020.
Both facilities will be built at the old site of the City Agriculturist’s Office in Molo district.
Currently, tests using the Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction [RT-PCR] kits are being done at the Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) in Mandurriao district.
The city is already setting up a temporary container van laboratory which will be located at the Technical Institute of Iloilo City in Molo.
Treñas said he already met with architects from the City Engineer’s Office on May 15 on the proposed designs for the laboratory.
A dormitory next to the laboratory will billet medical technologists who will run the lab.
The mayor confirmed that construction of the laboratory will proceed, and the bidding process will begin in June.
“Construction will proceed and we’re already finalizing the design. We can’t have bidding if our documents are not complete. I think maybe we can have bidding in the middle of June,” he said.
ISOLATION FACILITY
Treñas also confirmed the construction of the new isolation facility for COVID-19 patients.
The city government already has three COVID-19-dedicated isolation centers – St. Therese MTCC Hospital, the Diamond Jubilee Hall and the University of Iloilo PHINMA.
The St. Therese MTCC Hospital is currently being occupied by confirmed COVID-19 patients while the Diamond Jubilee Hall are for Persons Under Investigation (PUI) and Persons Under Monitoring (PUM).
The Diamond Jubilee Hall is also a testing venue for city hall employees and media personnel.
The University of Iloilo PHINMA, meanwhile, has not housed any COVID-19-related patients but is currently serving as an evacuation center for persons affected by the fires in Barangay Ortiz on May 15.
The mayor said that the 1,000-bed facility will be built in anticipation of a growing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
“I met with the city’s [COVID-19] team. Aside from our laboratory and dormitory for our medical technologists, we will also have our own isolation facility. It will have a pantry, comfort rooms and a kitchen. It will be built so when this goes on and we will need to isolate people, then we will have a place to put them in,” he said.
He admitted that there is difficulty with the current isolation facilities which are only temporary.
“We have to be sure that there will be a place where we can bring [COVID-19 patients]. [Our current isolation facilities are only temporary and it’s actually difficult to have separate isolation facilities as they’re straining our operations. At least with this, we will have a full-time facility with a [1,000-bed] capacity.
Department of Health (DOH) data indicated that as of May 18, Iloilo City has 17 confirmed COVID-19 cases, with seven active cases, nine recoveries, and one death.
