ILOILO City – This southern city received 46 beds and 12 tents from Cebu City to boost its response against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Office of the Presidential Assistant for Visayas (OPAV) undersecretary Michael Lloyd Dino together with some families from Cebu donated the beds, which were shipped on Sept. 18 by the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
A representative from the OPAV turned over the donation yesterday morning to Mayor Jerry Treñas at city hall.
“Nakita naton nga maski madamo sang aton problema, tanan kita nagabinuligay,” said Treñas as he thanked Dino and OPAV assistant secretary Jonji Gonzales.
According to Treñas, the hospital beds will be used to augment the capacity of St. Therese Hospital, the city’s stepdown facility for COVID-19.
He said it will be used by recovering patients who are residents of the city.
Those COVID-19 patients who are already recovering can now be transferred to the facility so hospitals can free up almost 50 COVID beds.
“Kadaku sang mabulig sa aton bangod 50 ka mga recovering patients nga ara subong sa mga hospitals,” Treñas said.
Apart from hospital beds, the city has 12 tents that can be used at the triage that will be established in quarantine facilities.
Data from the Department of Health in Western Visayas showed that as of Sept. 20, Iloilo City has 1,798 total cumulative confirmed cases.
Of the total cases, 1,045 recovered, 120 are still admitted, 147 on home quarantine, 438 on facility quarantine, and 13 are for verification. Meanwhile, the number of deaths stood at 35./PN
