Public Works and Highways Secretary and isolation czar Mark A. Villar announced that a new 120-bed capacity COVID-19 quarantine facility in Iligan City, Lanao del Norte has been completed and turned-over to local government unit.
“We opened on Wednesday, September 16, 2020, an additional 120-capacity isolation facility at National Steel Corporation (NSC) Global Multi-Purpose Building that will cater to COVID-19 patients and suspects in Iligan City and its neighboring towns as a response to the growing number of cases in Northern Mindanao,” said Secretary Villar.
Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., chief implementer of the National Task Force (NTF) on COVID-19 with Secretary Villar represented by Undersecretary Emil K. Sadain led the turnover ceremony of the completed facility to Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia.
According to Undersecretary Sadain, head of DPWH Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local and National Health Facilities, the completion of this facility augmented the total number of COVID-19 beds in the city into 240 since three (3) isolation facilities in various areas with 40-bed capacity each were earlier completed in August.
By adding more quarantine and care facilities, we hope that Iligan City will be able to contain the spread of the virus and scale up the city’s health care system, said Undersecretary Sadain.
The construction of the mega quarantine facility at NSC in Barangay Suarez, Iligan City was implemented by DPWH Lanao Del Norte 2nd District Engineering Office under the leadership of District Engineer Alykhan Ali.
Aside from the isolation facility inside NSC, other newly-converted quarantine facilities in Iligan City are located in Barangays Poblacion, Tominobo, and Sta. Felomin.