Mega Covid isolation facility opening soon

THE ZAMBOANGA City Government is set to inaugurate one of the biggest Covid-19 isolation facilities as it continues to fight the spread of the deadly respiratory virus which has infected over 1,500 people. 

The mega isolation facility in Barangay Talisayan.

The new isolation facility, located at the Zamboanga Economic Zone and Freeport Authority complex in Barangay Talisayan, has 320 beds and is part of the local government’s response to address the growing number of active Covid-19 cases and the shortage of hospital beds. 

Each room has an air condition unit, a comfort room and lavatory, and a bed with an IV (intravenous) pole.

Last July, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) also turned over to the local government the 188-room isolation facility at the Pasonanca Convention Center.

The project is intended to augment the two quarantine tents with 20 beds also in Pasonanca which was completed in March. Both facilities are being managed and operated by the City Health Office and City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office under supervision by the DOH.

Climaco said the local government is putting up more isolation facilities and targeting at least 2,000 beds as part of the Covid-19 response, supplementing the mass vaccination program aimed at fighting the spread of the deadly respiratory virus. “We are boosting our isolation facilities and efficiency of ambulances,” she said.

But while Climaco and the DPWH and DOH continue efforts to address the pandemic and respond to the health crisis, social media trolls and black propagandists also heightened their attacks against the mayor ahead of next year’s polls.

Climaco’s foes peddled fake news and false information aimed at bringing down the mayor, who is on her third and final term. Political propagandists resorted to spreading misinformation about Covid-19 and even denounced the isolation facilities in Barangay Pasonanca, saying it would put residents at risk of being infected with Covid-19 because the “virus can jump out of the tent.” 

They also called on Pasonanca residents to oppose the project while others have “demonized” those living near the facility to protest it. The spread of black propaganda, fake news and false information have alarmed Pasonanca residents and has prejudiced public tranquillity. 

The DPWH is also ramping up the construction of additional isolation facilities here with an “off-site modular hospital and pop-up dormitory” for health workers. It is also constructing a modular hospital with 22 beds for moderate, severe to critical Covid-9 patients at the Mindanao Central Sanitarium General Hospital (MCSGH) in Barangay Pasobolong and will be operated by the Zamboanga City Medical Center with equipment supplied by the DOH; and a dormitory with 16 rooms and double decker beds medical personnel.

It also identified five buildings and a covered court at the Regional Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center also at the MCSGH compound as a potential 300-bed quarantine facility and dormitories with 30 beds for health workers. (Zamboanga Post)