By Bernard Jaudian Jr.
The local government of Imus, Cavite opened today a new five-storey isolation facility in Barangay Palico 4.
The Saint Dymphna Isolation Facility has a 141-bed capacity and can accommodate up to 584 patients in total. It has 136 regular rooms fit for four patients each, and five family rooms that can admit eight patients each.
The project was made possible through a memorandum of agreement between the LGU and the private facility.
At the opening ceremony, Imus Mayor Emmanuel Maliksi said the facility will accommodate asymptomatic persons and those with mild symptoms. It will also serve as a step-down facility for recovered patients who have not yet yielded a negative result on their swab test, in order to decongest the bed capacity of hospitals in Imus which are full.
Patients from other towns and cities in Cavite may also be admitted to the St. Dymphna facility.
“Ito po ang pagpapatunay na ang lungsod ng Imus ay nasa tamang direksyon sa pagsugpo sa lumalaganap na surge na ating natutunghayan” [This is proof that the City of Imus is going in the right direction to suppress the surge that we are now witnessing],” Maliksi said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health (DOH) lauded the Imus city government’s efforts to address the Covid-19 pandemic.
In her speech at the ceremony, DOH Development Management Officer IV Dr. Armida Calvelo-Camposagrado said the local government has significantly helped lighten DOH’s load with regard to the city’s COVID-19 response.
“Kumpleto rekados na po ang Imus. Sa part ng DOH, hindi na namin kayo nagiging problema [The city of Imus has ‘complete ingredients’. On the part of DOH, you are no longer a problem to us] because you can stand on your own in addressing the COVID-19 problem,” Camposagrado said.
Among the City of Imus programs she cited were the opening of the first local government-initiated molecular laboratory in the province which started conducting RT-PCR tests last year, and its continuous vaccine rollout with a record high of 96% consumption of doses.
