Manila Water assures DOH that hospitals will have enough water

An official of Manila Water Co. Inc. on Thursday assured Health Secretary Francisco Duque III that there will be enough water supply in hospitals in the areas it covers amid recent water service interruptions.

“Our top priority is hospitals,” said Manila Water chief operating officer Geodino Carpio at a press conference.

Manila Water is the concessionaire for the so-called "east zone," covering the cities of Mandaluyong, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig, and Marikina; the municipality of Pateros; parts of Makati, Manila, and Quezon City; and the towns of Angono, Baras, Binangonan, Cainta, Cardona, Jalajala, Morong, Pililia, Rodriguez, Tanay, Taytay, Teresa, San Mateo and Antipolo in the province of Rizal.

Carpio said that Duque visited him in his office and asked for assurance that there would be enough water in hospitals.

“I am so happy that Secretary Duque actually went to my office. I was so impressed. Unannounced, he came to my office. And he wanted an assurance,” he said.

Carpio said he admired Duque’s initiative to make the request in person.

The Manila Water official said that they also discussed sending tankers to supply Rizal Medical Center with water.

“In fact we made some calculations, for example Rizal Medical Center, pinag-usapan namin kanina 'yun. Now I know we have their monthly consumptions. Now we're looking for their daily consumptions.  We are now assigning some tankers to Rizal Medical Center,” Carpio said.

Manila Water has been implementing water interruptions in several areas to ensure that the water supply can last until June. Due to the effects of El Niño phenomenon, less rainfall is expected in the coming months. — BM, GMA News