THE 19th Davao City Council passed legislations to further strengthen the existing coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response program of the city government, including the establishment of an additional Covid-19 testing laboratory and setting up of additional temporary quarantine facilities.
The Council on Wednesday, May 13, passed an ordinance for the establishment of a Covid-19 testing laboratory at the Urban Health Center in Barangay Los Amigos in Tugbok, Davao City.
Councilor Mary Joselle Villafuerte said the urban center aims to augment the testing capabilities of the city, and to ensure rapid turnaround of test results.
"This is to address the scarcity of the Covid-19 testing facilities in our city," Villafuerte said.
"When we saw that there is a need for more testing to be done with the city, because the SPMC (Southern Philippines Medical Center) laboratory serves not only Davao City but the whole of Mindanao," Villafuerte added.
She said that SPMC is currently the only Covid-19 testing center in the city accredited by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM).
Villafuerte said the establishment of the testing center within the Los Amigos health center would cost P10 million, which will be sourced from the P500 million Bayanihan to Heal as One Act grant given by the national government to the city.
Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, in a recent radio interview, said the city is working with the Department of Health (DOH) in accrediting more Covid-19 testing centers in the city, following the rising need to test more individuals.
These are Davao Doctors Hospital, an unnamed privately-owned laboratory, the Davao Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory of DOH, and the Los Amigos urban center.
Meanwhile, Villafuerte said the City Government is now working on the other requirements set by DOH.
"RITM has already inspected the said urban health center, and the city is now in the process of complying with the requirements," Villafuerte said.
The Council also passed an ordinance authorizing the City Mayor's Office to enter into a memorandum of agreement with various establishments and institutions that will be used as temporary Covid-19 quarantine facilities.
Currently, the city has 12 quarantine centers with 530 bed capacities.
These are the following operational centers: the Drug Abuse Treatment and Rehabilitation Center with 30 beds, Mental Wellness Center with 15 beds; La Vida Inn with 22 beds; Alternative Learning School (ALS) Building with 57 beds; Queensland Hotel with 103 beds; Boy Scout of the Philippines Camp in Malagos with 14 beds; and EMCOR, Inc./Jesus V. Del Rosario Foundation, Inc. Container Vans with 48 beds.
Meanwhile, four centers are set for completion. These are the RMC Petro Gazz Arena with 48 beds; Rizal Memorial Colleges with 30 beds; Davao City-University of the Philippines (UP) Sports Complex Training Gym with 128 beds; and the UP Mindanao Faculty and Staff Housing with 35 beds.
The NCCC Dome is still set for inspection.
However, this is still short of the city's total target of 1,000 beds in isolation facilities.
