DAVAO CITY ALLOTS P23M FOR OXYGEN PLANT, MORE TANKS

DAVAO CIT Y—the city government proceeded with the plan of Mayor Sara Duterte-carpio to construct an oxygen plant by allocating P11 million, along with accessories and a warehouse, the mayor reported Monday.

She also disclosed in her regular Monday radio program here the sharp difference in the morbidity cases for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals, showing a big difference in numbers of affected cases.

She said there were suppliers willing to give their price estimates as early as now “so that we can proceed with our plant design.”

The city government is likely to construct it in Maa, near where the city slaughterhouse is located along Maa Road. Duterte-carpio said there is still a government property nearby.

She said the city has also separately allotted P12 million to purchase 1,000 oxygen tanks, along with regulators, as she disclosed a shortage already of oxygen in the Southern Philippines Medical Center, the sole hospital receiver of Covid-19 patients needing hospitalization.

Both projects would get the funds from the city disaster fund.

She has requested the city task force on Covid-19 to come up with a resolution requesting emergency purchase or any form of purchase to make it fast, to offset the “reality of government procurement that it takes long to proceed with any project.”

“I would not set any target for this plant knowing how government procurement works. By our experience lately, it took us one year to construct the crematorium and 14 months to have that Covid-19 laboratory.

“But we already lack oxygen supply,” she said.

For now, getting an oxygen tank would need a doctor’s prescription to regulate the availability of the supply. She said the suppliers have told government agencies dealing with them that they need a particular ingredient to manufacture the medical grade oxygen and “they have to wait from supply outside to start manufacturing again.”

“So don’t be surprised if there are announcements about oxygen supply from suppliers because of this situation. This oxygen challenge is not a joke. There’s no conspiracy why people are waiting in line for the oxygen,” she added.