New COVID-19 treatment facility to rise in Zamboanga City-- Villar
An idle lot in Pasobolong, Zamboanga City will be converted into a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment facility to expand the healthcare service capacity of the city, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Saturday, May 8.

This after DPWH Secretary Mark Villar instructed Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain, who heads the DPWH Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local/Health Facility, to identify a site where a modular hospital can be put up in order to provide additional beds space for patients’ medical needs.
The facility will be intended for moderate and severe COVID-19 cases and will be operated by the Mindanao Central Sanitarium (MCS) Hospital.
Sadain said that preparatory plans and proposed concept design for a unit of modular hospital with a total of 22 beds was discussed with Dr. Hannah M. Rojas-Turco, chief of MCS Hospital during their meeting held in Zamboanga City.

A 16-room dormitory for 32 health workers will also be built aside from the modular hospital.
Turco said they are looking forward to the completion of the facility as COVID-19 cases continue to swell and threaten to overwhelm Zamboanga's health system.
Villar, who also serves as the isolation czar in the government's pandemic response, said that they are also rushing the conversion of the old Zamboanga Convention Center in Pasonanca, Zamboanga City into a quarantine facility with a total capacity of 180 beds.
In order to stop the rise in COVID-19 cases, Zamboanga City reverted to the stricter restriction level --modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) effective May 8.