By Jhon Aldrin Casinas
To increase the capacity of the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center (ARMMC), three emergency quarantine facilities capable of accommodating around 100 patients suspected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were opened in Marikina City on Monday.
Marikina City Mayor Marcy Teodoro, together with AFP officials and WTA Architecture and Design Studio, opens the newly-built Emergency Quarantine Facilities near the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center (ARMMC) on Monday. The temporary quarantine facilities will increase the capacity of the ARMMC to cater to more COVID-19 patients. (MARIKINA CITY PIO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro led the turnover and opening of the temporary quarantine facilities built near the state-run hospital, together with the officials of the Armed of the Philippines (AFP) and WTA Architecture and Design Studio.
He said the air-conditioned facilities were funded by the local government of Marikina, and were built in partnership with AFP and the WTA Architecture and Design Studio.
The facilities will be used to isolate and treat symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.
Teodoro said the finished quarantine facilities now has a capacity of around 100 beds, adding that the city targets to construct an additional 100-bed capacity quarantine facility.
“Mabuti na marami para hindi i-turn away ang mga pasyente na kailangang magamot (It is better to have more quarantine facilities so that patients that need treatment will not be turned away),” he said in a statement.
“Ang ginagawa natin dito ay expansion ng (What we are doing here is expansion of) Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center … so that they could accommodate more, accept more and admit more COVID patients and those with COVID-like symptoms sa facility nila (in their facility),” he added.
Following the start of mass testing in Marikina, Teodoro expects that the number of confirmed patients will increase, saying this is the reason why they built the facilities.
He added that two more quarantine facilities will be built at the parking area of the hospital.
Although the quarantine facility is an initiative of Marikina City, the mayor said that residents from some portions of Rizal province, San Mateo, Antipolo City, and portions of Pasig City will also benefit from the facility.
“I-oopen din naman natin ito sa kanila kasi nakikita naman natin ang health service naman ay hindi naman para lang sa isang bayan kundi para sa lahat (We will also open this to them because we see that health services should not only be for one city, but instead it should be for all),” Teodoro said.
“Ang kaligtasan ng isang bayan ay kaligtasan na rin ng katabing bayan (The safety of one city is also the safety of its neighboring cities),” he added.
“Ganun namin nakikita itong pandemic na ito, ang virus na ito (This is how we see this pandemic, this virus). We should act as one and we should have one another at this point in time,” Teodoro said.