MANKAYAN, Benguet – Four mining companies in the municipalities of Tuba and Mankayan offered to their respective municipal governments the use of some of their facilities as isolation areas for persons under investigation (PUIs) who are mandated to undergo strict isolation when there will be a worst case scenario where hospitals can no longer accommodate the surge in affected individuals in the coming weeks.
Mayor Frenzel A. Ayong said that the managements of the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMC) and the Far Southeast Gold Resources, Inc. (FSGRI) offered the use of their available container vans as isolation areas while the management of the Itogon-Suyoc Resources, Inc. (ISRI) offered the use of its old hospital in barangay Taneg for similar purposes in case there will be a worst case scenario where hospitals will be filled up of PUIs and confirmed COVID cases not only in the municipality but also in the different parts of the region.
He disclosed the Lepanto and FSGRI container vans can accommodate a maximum of 20 people at one time while the ISRI hospital will still be subject to inspection by the officials and employees of the municipal health office to ascertain its readiness to accommodate PUIs and COVID patients who are mandated to undergo isolation for them to recover from the deadly virus.
“We are elated that our development partners are voluntarily offering some of their facilities to be used as isolation areas for our COVID patients in case there will be a worst-case scenario in our hospitals. We would like to extend our gratitude to the managements of the mining companies in our municipality for making available some of their facilities as isolation areas for our COVID patients,” Mayor Ayong stressed.
The local chief executive claimed the mining companies, in coordination with the municipal government, will closely work together to prepare the proposed isolation facilities to be ready in case the situation will arise that the same will be ready in time for a worst case scenario.
The municipal mayor explained the availability of the facilities as isolation areas for PUIs will greatly contribute to the efforts of the government to prevent the further spread of the contagious virus through community transmission, a big problem in case that will happen, thus, it is best to prevent the same through stringent measures of compelling people to stay home.
Mankayan is near the Lutheran District Hospital and the Northern Benguet District Hospital based in Buguias, Benguet and the Luis Hora Regional Memorial Hospital based in Bauko, Mountain Province.
He called on the people in the municipality not to be alarmed over the impending use of the mining companies facilities for isolation areas as these will only be used when the need arises and that stringent precautionary measures will be observed through the direct supervision of health authorities in case such facilities need to be used in the future but he remained optimistic that the situation will stabilize the soonest so that the said facilities will not be tapped for such needs.
In a related development, the management of Philex Mining Corporation said that its Sto. Niño hospital and Smith hall had been readied as isolation areas for PUIs that need to undergo isolation, especially those coming from the neighboring communities, when there will be a sudden surge in PUIs in the said places.
Lawyer Eduardo M. Aratas, chief of Philex’s legal and administrative division, said that the mining company’s hospital and Smith hall could accommodate a maximum of 50 PUIs from the neighboring communities but when there will be a need for more areas, the company is willing to provided added isolation areas within safe zones in the mining community.
Aratas pointed out that the inclusion of the hospital and the Smith hall as part of the identified isolation areas for PUIs from neighboring communities is part of Philex’s corporate social responsibility at the height of the ongoing Luzonwide enhanced community quarantine, especially when there will be a sudden surge in the number of PUIs from the nearby areas where its Padcal mine is located.
The Philex official said that when there are PUIs or PUMs with moderate to severe symptoms, health workers wil immediately refer the same to the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center (BGHMC) considering that the mining company’s hospital is not accredited to handle COVID patients.
By Hent
