The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has already started construction activities of modular hospitals at the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP) in Quezon City.
Secretary and chief isolation czar Mark Villar said that the pop-up health facilities being built by DPWH is part of the government’s efforts to expand the capacity of major hospitals providing healthcare service to people infected with COVID-19.
“Five units of modular hospitals will be put up by the DPWH on a vacant space of LCP.”
According to Villar, five modular hospitals will be put up by the DPWH Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local and National Health Facilities headed by Undersecretary Emil Sadain on a vacant space of LCP to serve as additional treatment facilities for moderate, severe, and critical COVID-19 patients.
In his report to the public works chief following a site visit with DPWH Bureau of Construction Director and Task Force member Aristarco Doroy, Sadain said the layout of three of the five modular hospitals are already established.
“A total of 110-bed capacity will be constructed to augment the health facility requirement of LCP.”
He added that based on design and build plans as agreed with the LCP hospital management, four modular hospitals are designed with 88 beds and an intensive care unit (ICU) with 22 beds or a total of 110-bed capacity.
The DPWH had earlier built modular facilities at the LCP composed of eight fully air-conditioned rooms with two hospital beds per room to accommodate 16 moderate, severe, and critical COVID-19 cases, and 16 rooms with double-decker beds as a temporary shelter for health professionals taking care of patients.
To date, the DPWH thru the Task Force formed by Villar has already put up several modular hospitals for COVID-19 treatment: An ICU type with 16-bed capacity at the LCP, four modular hospitals of typical design and one ICU type modular hospital at the Quezon Institute-Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc (QI-PTSI), Quezon City with a total of 110-bed capacity; one typical designed modular hospital with a 22-bed capacity at the Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital and Sanitarium (DJNRMHS), Caloocan City; and one typical design with 21 beds and a 10-bed capacity one ICU type modular hospital at the Batangas Medical Center, Batangas City.