Bacolod is setting up three hubs in various parts of the city that will accept suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) patients as well as those with respiratory illnesses for free.
Among these is the quarantine center for persons under monitoring (PUMs) in the former campus of South Hills Academy in Barangay Alijis, and the center for patients under investigation (PUIs) in the vacated school building of West Negros University Integrated School in Barangay Mandalagan.
The other one is the respiratory center for outpatients at the Bacolod Arts, Youth and Sports (BAYS) Center.
City Administrator Em Ang, who heads the Technical Working Group (TWG), said on Monday that both the PUM and the respiratory centers are expected to be completed within the week.
“We are now ready with our pilot quarantine center at South Hills Academy building. The school is not being used anymore…This will be our center for PUMs. It has 17 rooms. We hope to start this running before the end of the
week,” she said.
Seven other sites, which are public school buildings, are also being considered to serve as PUM quarantine centers upon the approval of the Department of Education.
As suggested by groups of physicians who met with Ang and Mayor Evelio Leonardia, the respiratory center will provide outpatient consultations for Bacolod residents who have medical conditions such as asthma, and who have coughs and flu-like symptoms.
Ang said since people seemed to have gone paranoid, they would rush to the emergency room, which overwhelms the hospitals and the medical frontliners.
“This is why we are coming up with the Bacolod respiratory center. This will effectively decongest the emergency rooms and outpatient department hospitals in Bacolod. Our target is for this to be operational within the week,” she added.
The City Engineer’s Office has been tasked to work on the improvements on-site for the PUM quarantine center, and also to set up the respiratory center based on the lay-out provided by Dr. Hector Gayares Jr., who is also a member of the TWG.
Meanwhile, the location of the center of PUIs with less severe symptoms is being inspected and evaluated for the needed repairs.
“We will assign doctors, nurses and other health workers to be on-duty in the center. It is just beside a hospital. It will be convenient and accessible if we need hospital facilities,” Ang said.
At present, a total of 38 isolation rooms are available in all hospitals here. (Nanette Guadalquiver ndb via pna)