Dialysis center for COVID-19 patients set to rise in NKTI compound

A hemodialysis center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) patients is set to rise in Quezon City after a land inside the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) was cleared of informal settlers on Thursday.
 
The NKTI management on its Facebook page said it will build a five-storey building that will have 200 hemodialysis machines "to cater to the increasing number of renal patients in QC and nearby provinces."
 
"Pre-procurement activities have been conducted since the early months of 2018, but issues on the possession of the property have become the primary concern of the prospective project proponents," NKTI executive director Rose Marie Rosete-Liquete said as demolition works should be done first before starting the construction of the project.
  
During the demolition on Thursday morning, a tension occurred as the informal settlers tried to stop the workers. Police then reportedly made several arrests.
 
NKTI in a statement noted that "although the government has mandated a moratorium on demolitions during the ongoing pandemic, Section 28 (b) of the Urban Development and Housing Act states that eviction or demolition may be allowed when government infrastructure projects with available funding are about to be implemented."
 
"Moreover, the demolition is not covered by the circular of the Presidential Commission on the Urban Poor (PCUP) requiring the allocation of a relocation site for informal settlers affected by the move, since the property is a commercial area," it added.
 
The NKTI said that the 30 informal settler families caused the delay of the project "for years" due to their refusal to cooperate.
 
"The informal settlers occupying the area are not underprivileged," NTKI said, explaining they were even employed by illegal business establishments in the area, "Accordingly, both the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Local Housing Board have declared them as unfit for any housing privileges."
 
The local government of Quezon City expressed its support for the building of a hemodialysis center for COVID-19 patients, according to city lawyer Nino Casimiro.
 
"In the meantime, we are fully supporting this project since we expect that this will be a great benefit to QCitizens and those from nearby provinces," he said.