Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital designated COVID-19 facility

MANILA, Philippines — Metro Pacific Hospitals Group, the hospital arm of the Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), has designated Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Manila as its main COVID-19 facility among its portfolio of 16 hospitals around the country. 

The rest of the 15 MPIC hospitals nationwide will double their existing capacity for COVID-related patients to more than 600 beds, officials said after creating a crisis team to step up efforts to contain the pandemic.

Officials of the 16-member Hospitals Group led by MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan and Hospitals president and CEO Augusto Palisoc Jr. have created the crisis team to coordinate efforts and better cope with the rising number of COVID-19 related cases.

The group has appointed Pilar Nenuca Almira, who currently heads both the Cardinal Santos Medical Center and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, as head of the crisis team. 

“The country’s healthcare system faces unprecedented challenges because of the ongoing pandemic, caused by a virus that is unfamiliar, and seems easily transmitted. Our Hospitals Group are focusing their resources on critical concerns – particularly hospital care for the most critically ill patients infected by COVID-19,” Pangilinan said. 

Almira said that by designating a hospital within the group to be the main referral facility for persons under monitoring and persons under investigation and those infected with COVID, the MPIC is aligning its efforts with the government to address the pandemic.

She added that if the pandemic would rise in intensity in the coming weeks, the Hospitals Group would plan for supplemental tents, with beds and requisite equipment, for non-critical COVID cases in selected hospital grounds, as an extraordinary measure. 

Pangilinan said the group also provides every assistance possible to doctors, nurses and healthcare personnel to protect their wellbeing and safety as they courageously pursue their enormously difficult task of caring for patients. 

“We owe them an inestimable debt of gratitude – these gallant frontliners who altogether reflect our people’s compassion and caring,” Pangilinan said. 

The MPIC Group has scaled up its cooperation with and assistance for key government hospitals that are focused on caring for COVID-19 patients. This includes sharing vital supplies such as virus specimen collection kits, transportation services, water supply, alcohol, face masks, disinfectants and PPE and communications support like hotlines, mobile phones, Wi-Fi and other digital solutions. 

“Our Hospitals Group has been unselfish in doing its part. We would like to express our gratitude to the Sisters of the Holy Spirit in allowing the use of their Lourdes Hospital for this purpose,” Pangilinan said.

Meanwhile, Marikina City would use a newly constructed two-story building, which was supposed to be its public safety center, to house the new molecular laboratory that it intends to set up for the mass testing of its residents and those of neighboring cities.  

Mayor Marcelino Teodoro said the building, located at Bayan-Bayanan Ave., will be completed in two weeks and is “biohazard safety compliant” as required by the DOH.

 The DOH earlier objected to the city’s plan of setting up its own molecular laboratory to help control the spread of COVID-19 because it was to be located at the health office’s 6th floor—something which it described as not compliant to space and biosafety standards.

A testing facility, it added, should ensure that cross-infection is minimized and less foot traffic would be observed.

 “This is a freestanding structure in a not too populated area and is accessible too. In terms of location, it seems this is suitable according to what the DOH was earlier saying,” Teodoro said.

 While Teodoro earlier asserted that the facility was compliant with the standards of the DOH and the University of the Philippines Manila - National Institutes of Health, the local government’s molecular lab still have to be accredited by the World Health Organization to be able to screen COVID-19 samples.

 Five of the country’s current testing centers have undergone the same procedures that seek to maintain the health standards and safety of patients.

Teodoro said the local government was eager to do mass testing considering the backlog and delays in releasing results by the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Muntinlupa.

“People are dying without knowing they were COVID-19 positive,” the mayor added. As of yesterday, his city has 21 confirmed cases and four deaths. 

 The DOH earlier said at least 30 public and private labs have expressed their interest to conduct COVID-19 tests. DOH spokeswoman Maria Vergeire said they have distributed self-assessment tools to these institutions to evaluate whether they are qualified to screen COVID-19 samples. – With Neil Jayson Servallos