Pampanga rents hotels for COVID-19 patients

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines — The Pampanga provincial government has rented two hotels to serve as isolation centers for coronavirus patients suffering from mild symptoms now that hospitals are ill-equipped to take in more cases.

The hotels helped raise the number of COVID-19 dedicated rooms and cubicles in the province to 1,035, Dr. Dax Tidula, head of the Pampanga COVID-19 Isolation Facilities, told the Inquirer in a telephone interview on Tuesday.

These isolation centers would take in patients for the mandatory 14-day quarantine. The province is using the National Government Administrative Center (323 cubicles) and Athletes’ Building B (170 rooms), both in New Clark City at Capas town in Tarlac, as quarantines.

Household members

Permanent evacuation centers in Barangay San Roque, Mexico town and Sta. Catalina village in Lubao town, have been converted into isolation centers, providing 215 cubicles and 150 rooms, respectively. These are made from 15 container vans that the Department of Public Works and Highways has converted into rooms.

The Pampanga hotels tapped for the battle against COVID-19 are meant for patients belonging to the same households, Tidula said. Each room can accommodate three patients, he said.

Gov. Dennis Pineda described the isolation facilities as having “a hospital setup” because each air-conditioned room or cubicle has an oxygen tank, a dextrose holder, a bathroom and hospital beds. A portable X-ray machine is also available, and “we have doctors and nurses 24/7,” Pineda said.

“We put up more isolation facilities because we wanted to save other family members from exposure to the virus causing COVID-19. Instead of waiting at home while waiting for rooms in hospitals, they have the isolation rooms to use,” he said. Diosdado P. Macapagal Memorial Provincial Hospital in Guagua town has been tasked to oversee swabbing and mild cases. All 10 district hospitals handle non-COVID-19 cases, Pineda said.

According to the governor, 90 percent of critical care beds at Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital and private hospitals are occupied by patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 symptoms.

Pampanga has been receiving patients from Metro Manila, being only 80 kilometers away from the national capital.

Since March 30, Pampanga has been logging more than 100 new cases daily. As of April 4, the total confirmed cases in the province reached 10,312, with active cases rising to 1,800. The province has recorded at least 8,000 recoveries and 512 deaths. President Duterte has retained the modified general community quarantine, the least restrictive quarantine status, in Pampanga but Pineda enforced stricter measures, like a home lockdown, from March 20 to April 15. INQ