Red Cross, mayors in NCR eye isolation sites in schools

THE Philippine Red Cross (PRC) and Metro Manila mayors have agreed to set up isolation centers in public and private schools in the metropolis as bed capacity of big hospitals in Metro Manila for Covid-19 patients has already reached the “high-risk” level.

“We can be more effective if we can work together for the same purpose,” said Senator Richard J. Gordon, PRC chairman and CEO, after his virtual meeting with Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr., the Metro Manila Council (MMC), and several PRC officials where they agreed to remove infected persons from their homes.

The move, Gordon said, aims to stop the spread of Covid especially in multi-generation households, where working adults live with their parents and the elderly who are most vulnerable, with some succumbing to the disease.

Abalos and the mayors committed to work with the PRC on the project as concerns over an impending “collapse” of the health-care system were fueled by numerous reports of people unable to find hospitals to admit them; or even isolation facilities for the mildly infected.

As part of PRC’S humanitarian efforts, Gordon proposed to partner with the MMC in setting up isolation facilities in public and private schools under the jurisdiction of the different local government units.

The PRC proposed to: provide ambulances to transport patients to these facilities; set up isolation beds; provide supplementary hot meals; set up shower rooms for their daily hygiene needs; ensure daily monitoring of their condition; and provide ambulance to transport to hospitals patients who, while in isolation, develop moderate to severe symptoms.

On the other hand, LGUS are expected to: coordinate the operations of these facilities with the barangay leadership in the zonal areas; assign security personnel for the orderly operations of the facility; provide regular nutritious meals; provide at least one local counterpart to man the area; ensure daily monitoring of their household contacts for possible infection (care of contact tracing assistance); and coordinate with local government hospital for the immediate confinement of patients transferred from these isolation facilities.