Villar: P5.2B spent on modular hospitals, quarantine facilities

The Department of Public Works and Highways has so far spent P5.2 billion for the construction of modular hospitals and quarantine facilities across the country, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said Wednesday.

“So far we’ve spent about P5.2 billion for those facilities for the 27,000 plus beds that we built,” Villar said in an ANC interview.

Expenses for the repairs and the clearing operations the DPWH has conducted are excluded, he added.

So far, Villar said they have reached 25,000 bed capacity for isolation and they are eyeing to increase the number to 27,000 by next month.

“We continue to build these facilities. So in terms of quarantine facilities, there is a significant improvement from last month, but nevertheless we still continue to aggressively build so that we have sufficient buffer in case there is another surge,” he said.

For hospital bed capacity, the DPWH targets 500 beds by next month as they are currently constructing facilities for 300 additional beds in the National Capital Region, according to Villar.

Moreover, 110 beds will be housed in another modular hospital, which is similar to the one being built at the Quezon Institute, which is within the property of the Lung Center of the Philippines.

The DPWH will finish the construction of the facility next month.

On Tuesday, the Philippines recorded 4,487 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total tally to  1,154,388.

So far, total ICU beds in the country is 57% occupied, while isolation beds is 44% utilized.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque III recently said the NCR -- considered as a hotspot of COVID-19 transmission -- is now at moderate risk as health authorities observed improvements in the two-week growth rate data. —LBG, GMA News