Photo taken from Isko Moreno Domagoso’s Facebook Page.
The City of Manila started on Tuesday the construction of a 336-bed capacity field hospital for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients at Luneta Park.
Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso and Vice Mayor Ma. Shielah “Honey” Lacuna-Pangan led the groundbreaking ceremony of the hospital.
“We have some way of how to heed the call of the national government para ma-unclog yung ating hospital capacity at mabawasan yung mga insidenteng namamatay sa triage or tent or parking space,” Domagoso said.
“We will approach this inclusively because this is an universal problem. We cannot give up, hindi tayo susuko,” he added.
Senior government officials present during the event included National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 Chief Implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr., NTF Against COVID-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Sec. Vivencio Dizon, Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, and Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana.
Department of Public Works and Highway Usec. Enil Sadain, Department of Health Asec. Romeo Ong M.D., and Metropolitan Manila Development Authority General Manager Jojo Garcia also attended the event.
Moreno said the 154-million field hospital is scheduled to open within two months.
He added that an additional 100 beds would also be prepared in case of emergency.
“We can prepare Metro Manila for the next 5 months, in a bad situation, or not so bad, or not so good for the remaining of the year with regard to Covid bed availability for our mild and moderate so that we can help the doctors, nurses, the medical frontliners,” Domagoso said.
“We will try to equip them so that they can continue to serve with efficiency and with the help of diagnostic machineries,” Domagoso added.
The city will station 150 medical frontliners in the mobile hospital to monitor Covid-19 patients.
Moreno explained that the modular containers will have inter-communication between patients and medical frontliners, internet connection, and air conditioner.
“May awa ang Diyos, sana marami tayong masurvive. Nobody will be left behind, kaagapay niyo ang Pamahalaang Lungsod ng Maynila,” Domagoso said. Ronald dela Cruz