Modular hospital in Quezon Institute compound turned over to DOH

Quezon Institute Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. Modular Hospital and Dormitory (Photo courtesy of DPWH)

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) turned over to the Department of Health (DOH) on Tuesday the Quezon Institute Philippine Tuberculosis Society Inc. Modular Hospital and Dormitory which can cater to moderate and severe cases of COVID-19.

The turnover for the facility located within the Quezon Institute compound in Quezon City was led by National Task Force against COVID-19 deputy chief implementer Vince Dizon, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) secretary and isolation czar Mark Villar, and Health Undersecretary Leopoldo Vega.

Information from the Presidential Communications Operations Office showed that the facility consists of two units of modular hospitals with 44-bed capacity and two units of dormitories with 64 beds.

It said the modular hospital is intended for treating moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 while the dormitory is for medical personnel.

Villar, in his speech at the turnover ceremony, said the modular hospital is the “first of its kind.”

“Basically, we used pre-fabricated sandwich panels and this consists of 110 isolation rooms. What we are seeing here today is 44 isolation rooms, the rest of which will be finished by February,” he said.

“Each patient room has its own toilet and bath, fully furnished with air conditioning units. Each room has oxygen outlets and nurse call buttons. And the oxygen is not inside the room for safety reasons. Nandoon po sa labas ang oxygen (The oxygen is outside). It is very safe and very up to standard,” he added.

“The other key features of this modular hospital are the paging system, security camera with CCTV (closed-circuit television) monitoring, emergency lights, ventilation, and exhaust system,” he further said.

For his part, Dizon said the establishment of the modular hospital was the result of discussions among government officials to upgrade facilities so it can cater to severe and critical patients of COVID-19.

Vega, who was representing Duque in the ceremony, noted the “very rapid implementation” of the construction of the facility.

“This is becoming a model in terms of a field hospital in any part of the country. It’s really a model in terms of how best we can make the services for critical and severe,” he said.

He added that the facility was only lacking an operating room.

“If I have an operating room here, this would tremendously be a different factor because this will actually alter the different services it can cater. But right now since COVID is basically a medical disease, this is very appropriate and suitable in terms of management for severe and critical cases,” he said.

The facility, said Vega, will be managed and operated by the Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital.

“They will do the management. They will make sure that nurses and appropriate doctors will be here and make sure that our COVID patients are covered with the right medication and management,” he said.

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