BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental’s provincial government has opened a quarantine center in the northern town of E.B. Magalona that will accommodate patients under investigation (PUIs) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said the facility, located in a “Yolanda” housing project site in Barangay Sto. Niño, would have 210 beds for PUIs with mild symptoms.
“We will group all recorded PUIs, transfer them to this area, and monitor them. The idea is to control the number of PUIs sent to the hospitals,” Lacson said in a press briefing held at the Capitol Social Hall on Monday afternoon.
Health personnel, including doctors and nurses, together with administrative personnel and utility workers, will man the quarantine center.
They will be provided with personal protective equipment and accommodation in the staff quarters.
The facility will have thermal gun scanners, emergency medical supplies, and hygiene kits, as well as communication equipment and an ambulance.
Meals will also be provided to the patients.
Capitol consultant Alfredo Benitez, who is also a member of the Provincial Incident Management Team (PIMT), said the quarantine center would be ready to accept patients by Tuesday.
Benitez said only one PUI will be housed in each unit, and all patients will undergo a test for Covid-19.
“We will test all PUIs as well as the front-liners and their family members who had contact with them,” he added.
Benitez said PUIs from Bacolod City would also be accommodated at the E.B. Magalona quarantine center for testing.
The provincial government is expected to receive 300 testing kits from the Department of Health, he added.
As of March 29, there were 188 PUIs in Negros Occidental. Of the number, eight are confined in hospitals.
Bacolod has 33 PUIs, four of whom are confined in hospitals. A total of 27 have already been discharged. (With a report from PNA/PN)
