Two facilities intended for moderate and severe cases of the coronavirus disease within the Quezon Institute will be completed this month, the Department of Public Works and Highways said Thursday.
The two healthcare facilities, which are being built using modular components, will have 44 beds.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said they are looking to complete the construction before Christmas.
Villar said the department is currently putting up five modular hospitals with a total capacity of 110 beds for moderate to severe and critical patients within the Quezon Institute compound.
Once completed, the Department of Health (DOH) will manage these facilities, including those in Jose Reyes Memorial Hospital.
“As we gradually defeat the pandemic, we will not be complacent but instead continue in backing our healthcare system by putting up more health facilities nationwide,” the secretary said.
The modular hospital was designed by the DPWH Task Force in coordination with DOH to have specific rooms for the donning of health care professionals’ personal protective equipment (PPE) and area for doffing or taking off of PPEs in order to protect and limit spread of contamination.
The field modular hospital will also have a copper tube for oxygen and tanks, separate nursing station, equipment laboratory, pantry, storage, CCTV lines, and monitoring board.
According to Undersecretary Emil Sadain, who heads the DPWH Task Force, two dormitories were already put up at the Quezon Institute compound. These serve as temporary shelter for some 64 health workers manning the hospital operations.
Sadain also said that as of today, there are already 462 healthcare facilities completed by DPWH nationwide serving 17,935 beds capacity amid the pandemic.