What's so good about the modular hospitals and quarantine facilities that the Department Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has been constructing amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic?
Isolation czar and DPWH Sec. Mark A. Villar explained during the Laging Handa virtual press briefing Tuesday, April 6 the sheer practicality and versatility of the modular facilities.
"Hangga't hindi natatapos yung pandemya kailangan talaga natin ng facilities (These facilities are essential for as long as the pandemic persists)," he said.
"Ang kagandahan ng facilities, ito ay modular. Kaya gumamit kami ng mga container vans. Pwedeng ilipat sa ibang lugar kung halimbawa hindi na natin kailangan. Pwedeng gamitin for other purpose (The good thing about the facilities is that they're modular. That's why we used comtainer vans. They can be transferred for example to other places if we don't need them anymore. They can be used for other purposes)," he explained.
"So hindi po masasayang ang ating mga facilities na ginawa sa COVID dahil ito po ay pwede muna natin itabi (The facilities we made for COVID won't go to waste because they can be set aside)," Villar stressed.
As of last week, the DPWH boss said there were 131,517 isolation beds set up nationwide for the pandemic.
"Ang basis ng mga quarantine facilities natin ay mga request ng LGUs (local government units). Tinitignan po natin occupancy rate sa regions nila; kapag mataas na, yun ang pina-prioritize namin (We construct quarantine facilities based on the request of LGUs.We look at the occupancy rate of their regions; if it's high then they get prioritized)," he said.
Villar said LGUs could easily turn the modular facilities into evacuation centers if case of a calamity. And since they're modular, they're also easy to build; he said that an entire modular hospital could be finished in just 45 days.
"Ayaw natin magkaroon ng kalamidad pero kung kailangan ng mga facilities, naka-stand by lang ang mga facilities (We don't want any calamities to happen but if we need facilities, then they're just on stand by)," he further said.