Subic mega facility for Covid-19 treatment and monitoring launched

Government officials on Wednesday (April 14) inaugurated a treatment and monitoring facility for patients infected with the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at the former Cubi Hospital complex, a sprawling, gated compound deep in the forest of Ilanin East here.

The “We Heal As One Center”, which was designed to increase the country’s healthcare system surge capacity and allow hospitals In Manila to care for patients with medium to severe symptoms, is housed at the 12-hectare campus of The Manila Times College of Subic, Inc., which includes the former U.S. Naval Hospital.

This Covid-19 wellness center and temporary treatment and monitoring facility is an inter-agency cooperation project of the Department of Health (DOH), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

In the inauguration rites, BCDA President Vince Dizon said the “We Heal As One Center” will eventually have a 500-bed capacity from the present 371 beds, plus 100 beds that will be available at the hospital, which can take in patients with severe symptoms.

He added that the facility will benefit patients not only from the Subic Bay and Central Luzon areas, but also from Manila where occupancy rate in government hospitals is already breaking limits.

“In fact, I’ve already received calls from a lot of local government units that wanted to know if they can bring patients here,” Dizon revealed.

In the same occasion, SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma pledged another 34 hospital beds to be transferred from the care and isolation facility that the SBMA put up last year at the Subic Gym, which became a DOH-certified community isolation unit for Covdi-19 cases on July 29, 2020.

“This will be SBMA’s contribution to this national effort,” Eisma said.

She added that with the operation of the Covid-19 wellness center at Cubi, the SBMA has been granted its request that a dedicated number of beds will be allotted for Subic Freeport stakeholders, including residents, business locators and SBMA employees.

“Tulong-tulong tayo rito (We will help each other in this project),” Eisma also said.

Prior to this, Eisma has defended the mega isolation facility project after some Subic stakeholders feared that it might lead to more Covid-19 exposure among local residents and workers.

The SBMA chief also assured stakeholders that the remote location of the facility, as well as strict health protocols observed in Subic, would ensure the safety of everyone.

To this, Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC) president Benjamin Antonio III agreed, saying that the location of the facility “provides a conducive environment for individuals who would need to be isolated because of the COVID-19 virus.”

Antonio said he was “quite confident in the arrangements our government will institute to protect our community, since the complex is well-guarded and fenced, and our healthcare workers are some of the best trained.”

“Moreover, I know that the stakeholders of the Subic Bay Freeport would take this as an opportunity to provide help to our countrymen. We cannot disconnect ourselves from their sufferings. We persistently speak of compassion—now is the chance to display it,” he added. (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

[1] BCDA President and National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vivencio “Vince” Dizon, assisted by DOH Assistant Secretary Maria Francia Miciano-Laxamana and DOH Undersecretary and Treatment Czar Dr. Leopoldo Vega, cuts the ceremonial ribbon to open the Subic Covid-19 wellness center and temporary treatment and monitoring facility on Wednesday, April 14.

[2] The “We Heal As One Center” will have 500 beds for Covid-19 patients

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SBMA allays stakeholders’ fears on new Subic Covid-19 isolation facility

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has allayed fears by stakeholders of this Freeport that the 500-bed mega isolation facility being prepared by the government at the former Cubi Hospital complex here might expose more local residents and workers to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma, who visited the facility located in Subic’s Ilanin Forest East on Tuesday, defended the government project and said that the remote location of the facility, as well as strict health protocols observed in Subic, would ensure the safety of everyone.

“The number one assurance we can give them is this location, which is so far away from everybody else,” Eisma said in an interview at the project site. “I would like to emphasize that this hospital is in a fenced and gated compound and that it is virtually a self-contained community.”

“I am sure that the Office of the Civil Defense (OCD) will take all the necessary steps to make sure that everybody who will be working here and will be confined here will be limited to the compound. And if there is a need to go out, they will be properly guarded, properly monitored,” she added.

Eisma also pointed out that Subic has one of the lowest numbers of Covid-19 cases in the country because of strict adherence to protocols despite the presence of a Covid-19 hospital, isolation facilities, and swabbing and testing centers in the Freeport.

She said that this was precisely why Subic has been chosen as an international crew-change hub, as well as a popular destination for events under the “bubble” set-up.

“I’m quite sure, by this time, we already know what to do,” Eisma said. “With what we have learned from the past and what we continue to learn, I can guarantee the community of Subic that we will do everything to make sure that not only is this place contained, but that this place will also service the needs of the community when the need arises,” she added.

“Initially, the plan is that only mild and asymptomatic patients will be brought here until the emergency room and the intensive care unit inside the facility will be up and running,” Eisma said.

The 500-bed mega isolation facility for Covid-19 patients in Subic is expected to be ready in early April, as the government sought to increase the number of quarantine and temporary treatment and monitoring facilities (TTMF) and boost the country’s healthcare system capacity.

Last week, National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer and testing czar Vivencio “Vince” Dizon said the Subic facility was developed as occupancy rate in government quarantine facilities for Covid-19 patients rose dangerously to 70 percent.

Dizon said the new quarantine and temporary treatment and monitoring facility could accommodate asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Covid-19 patients and allow hospitals to attend to those with medium to severe symptoms. 

Subic’s Covid-19 isolation facility will use 11 out of some 20 buildings in the former Cubi Hospital complex that also recently housed The Manila Times College Subic (TMTCS) campus. The facilities in the 12-hectare complex include a 100-bed hospital that served as the U.S. Navy’s Pacific regional medical center from 1977 to 1983.

The Department of Health (DOH), along with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), is now renovating the hospital and some adjoining buildings, including those that will serve as quarters for medical personnel and other support staff.

Once the Subic isolation facility is ready for occupancy, the DOH will be running the operations while the OCD will be managing security and logistics, Eisma said. (MPD-SBMA)

PHOTOS:

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma visits the 500-bed Cubi isolation facility on Tuesday with Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC) President Benjamin Antonio III (in pink long-sleeved shirt), Manila Times College of Subic Vice President for Operations Ryan Tulio (in blue shirt), and DPWH Zambales 2^nd District Project Engineer Karen Gail C. Miguel.

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