DOH OIC Maria Rosario Vergeire. Screenshot from RTVM Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — Some health facilities in Nueva Ecija suffered damage after Typhoon Karding battered parts of Luzon, Department of Health officer-in-charge Maria Rosario Vergeire reported on Monday.
During her situational briefing for Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Vergeire said that the super typhoon broke glass panes, ripped the roof of an infirmary, and leaked the roof of a drug treatment center.
Marcos, who presided over the briefing, inquired if any patients were required to evacuate the rural health unit, but Vergeire said none, “although our hospitals were on standby.”
READ: Parts of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Aurora under Signal No. 5 due to Karding
She, however, noted that some patients were moved from the infirmary.
“This is a lower-level facility also in Nueva Ecija where the roof of the hospital was ripped off. So mayroong isang area, sa lobby po ‘yun at saka sa emergency room. Nailagay ‘yung mga pasyente naman ibang area ng ospital. This is just a small facility, infirmary lang naman po,” said Vergeire.
(Areas like the hospital’s lobby and emergency room were cleared out and the patients were relocated.)
The health official said that the damage to the Mega Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center (DATRC), part of which serves as a COVID-19 quarantine facility, likewise was minimal.
“We also have a leaking roof in our Mega DATRC; these are big isolation quarantine facility in Palayan City, Nueva Ecija,” Vergeire said.
According to the officer-in-charge, repairs on the damaged facilities are already underway.