BACOLOD City – The Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital (BQMH) in Barangay Mandalagan here has been designated as dedicated facility for indigent patients showing mild to moderate symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
A contract for this was recently approved and ratified by the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
BQMH will solely dedicate its entire South Wing with 34 rooms to indigent patients. This portion shall be called the Bacolod City Respiratory Referral Center (BCRRC).
Mayor Evelio Leonardia for his part said “this was to meet the urgent need for a medical facility dedicated for patients under investigation coming from indigent families, and to supplement the bed capacity of the Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) and other private hospitals for such cases.”
Under the contract, the city government will provide additional equipment to the hospital.
These equipment were as follows:
* 17 patient beds
* A portable x-ray
* An ECG machine
* A defibrillator
* An E-cart
* A video laryngoscope
* Consumable supplies such as personal protective equipment and testing kits.
These equipment will continue to be owned by the City and shall be made available for the free use of the hospital.
The city government will provide its own city-paid 10 registered nurses to work the third shift every 14 days. Payroll and other employee benefits shall be the respective responsibility of the hospital.
“We are deeply grateful to the owners and management of the Bacolod Queen of Mercy Hospital, Inc. led by its chairperson Dr. Evangeline Johnson and President Dr. Lucho Giovanni Giron for generously coming forward and offering their South Wing to us as part of their social responsibility during this crisis,” said Leonardia.
Meanwhile, Negrense lawmaker and Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri has pledged to donate 2,000 COVID-19 antibody diagnostic kits to the city government here and to the provincial governments of Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental.
The testing kits to be donated are the rapid antibody testing kits which was recently promoted by President Rodrigo Duterte during his weekly briefings and can be used without the need of testing laboratories.
The test kits will be divided between the local government units with 1,000 kits for Negros Occidental including 500 for Bacolod City and another 500 kits for Negros Oriental.
The senator was among those diagnosed with the virus but successfully recovered after undergoing self-quarantine./PN
