LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – The provincial government and concerned government agencies recently opened a 16-bed isolation facility that was built within the compound of the Benguet General Hospital (BeGH) to further increase the capacity of the province’s isolation units to cater to the increasing number of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) cases with the emerging threat of the new variant of the illness.
The inauguration of the newest isolation facility was spearheaded by Benguet Caretaker Congressman and Anti-Crime and Terrorism through Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) Party-list Rep. Eric Yap, Gov. Melchor Diclas, Mayor Romeo Salda, boardmembers Nestor Fongwan, Jr. and Robert Namoro, DPWH-CAR representative Engr. Nelia Antonio, DPWH-FBED officer-in-charge Engr. Benedicta Mendoza, DOH-CAR representative Dr. Alexy Marrero, BeGH chief of hospital Dr. Meliarazon Dulay and other provincial health officials.
Diclas stated that funds for the project was sourced out from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) through the efforts of Congressman Yap and was implemented by the public works department to help in improving the isolation capacity of the province for the surge in COVID cases.
The P13 million isolation facility is one of the 3 approved isolation units that will be constructed in the province as part of the ongoing efforts to increase the capacities of local governments on isolation to accommodate the increasing number of COVID cases.
Based on the report of the DPWH-FBED officer-in-charge Engr. Mendoza, the implementation of the project started last November 20, 2020 and was recently completed to cater to the increasing isolation requirements of the province following the sudden surges in the number of cases.
However, she expressed optimism that there will be no individuals who will be confined in the said facility although it will be available for use once the provincial government will need more isolation beds for future confirmed COVID patients.
For her part, Dr. Dulay reported that the local government-managed hospital earlier allocated 55 percent or 82 of its 150 beds for COVID patients but the same is not yet sufficient, especially when there is a sudden surge in cases from the different parts of the province.
The province’s new isolation facility is a one-story structure made up of container vans that is fully furnished with the appropriate hospital beds and with independent comfort rooms ready for occupancy by suspected and probable COVID patients being confined in the hospital.
The two other isolation facilities for Benguet funded under the NDRRMC will be constructed in Midas, Itogon and Ambongdolan, Tublay to help in improving the isolation capacities of the host local governments to contain the possible spread of the virus in their respective areas of jurisdiction and to allow the province to use the same when its existing facilities will be overwhelmed. By HENT
Photo by Armando M. Bolislis