Valenzuela opens dialysis center for COVID-19 patients

MANILA, Philippines — The Valenzuela City government yesterday opened a dialysis center exclusively for COVID-19 patients.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the Valenzuela City Dialysis Center will cater to vulnerable patients who could not undergo dialysis treatment due to their COVID-19 diagnosis.

The center, located on the third floor of the Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital in Barangay Dalandanan, is a joint venture project between the city government and Premier 101 Health Care Management, Inc.

The center can accommodate nine patients or three batches a day.

“For the past couple of months since the pandemic started, we realized that a lot of our COVID-19 patients who also undergo dialysis cannot find dialysis centers who will take them in because of their COVID positive status,” Gatchalian said on Facebook.

“Because of this, the city government opened our own dialysis center that will cater exclusively for COVID patients. Hoping that we get our operating license soon so we can use this for them,” he added.

The center will start operations once it is granted a license by the Department of Health (DOH).

Caloocan greenlit for molecular lab

Meanwhile, the Caloocan city government has secured DOH approval to operate its own molecular laboratory for COVID-19 testing, Mayor Oscar Malapitan said yesterday.

The DOH gave the accreditation to the city’s molecular laboratory to process swab samples.

The molecular laboratory is located behind the Caloocan City North Medical Center.