An old convention center in Pasonanca, Zamboanga City has been tranformed into a mega quarantine facility in order to accommodate more asymptomatic and moderate cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) inaugurated on Monday, July 12, the Zamboanga Convention Center Quarantine Facility and subsequently turned it over to the local government unit (LGU).
The newly converted isolation facility has 188 beds intended for the monitoring and treatment of asymptomatic and moderate COVID-19 patients.
It is expected to augment the capacity of the Zamboanga City Quarantine Facility, which was opened last March.
“DPWH construction of quarantine facilities using available spaces like this convention center will give our hospitals more capacity to handle severe and critical patients and make up for the shortage of hospital beds because of the pandemic,” DPWH Undersecretary Emil Sadain said.
The repurposing of the Zamboanga Convention Center into an isolation facility was implemented by the DPWH Regional Office 9 in coordination with Department of Health (DOH) Regional 9 Director Joshua Brillantes and Chairman Efigenio Julian Jr. of Barangay Pasonanca, Zamboanga City.
The department's Task Force for Augmentation of Health Facilities has so far built 733 COVID-19 facilities nationwide with a total bed capacity of 27,113. This is broken down into the following: 668 quarantine facilities with 25,506 beds; 51 off-site dormitories with 1,320 beds; and 14 modular hospital with 287 beds.