By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport 

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) on Monday, March 30, took over a six-storey hotel building here for conversion into a care and isolation facility for patients under monitoring for new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infection.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma inspected the former Leciel Hotel here upon its turnover to the Subic agency on a temporary agreement with the Philippine Veterans Bank, which controls the property.

The hotel, which has 81 rooms, mostly with their own toilet, bath and kitchen, will be converted into a care and isolation facility for patients with mild and moderate Covid-19 symptoms, Eisma said.

This will enable the Baypointe Hospital and Medical Center in the Subic Freeport to serve persons under investigation (PUIs) with severe symptoms, those with comorbidities or existing medical conditions, and Covid-19 positive patients, she added.

Baypointe, which is just two blocks away from Leciel Hotel, has a limited room capacity, and has admitted several PUIs from various Zambales towns and the nearby Olongapo City.

“We don’t want to be caught unprepared in case more patients of Covid-19 turn up. We must be ready for any eventuality because in a pandemic situation we should expect the normal health care system to be overwhelmed,” Eisma explained.

“We pray that eventually this won’t have to be used, but right now our duty is to find all means possible to be able to respond to this health emergency,” she added.

On Monday, utility firms already restored power and water supplies to the hotel at the behest of the SBMA.

Eisma said that aside from Leciel Hotel, the SBMA is converting the Subic Gym into another care and isolation facility for PUIs with mild to moderate symptoms.  The gym, which was newly-renovated in time for the Southeast Asian Games last December, has a capacity for another 32 isolation tents.

“With increased capacity, we will be able to provide for the needs of the local Freeport population and, should the need arise, to accommodate as well referrals by the Department of Health (DOH) from other areas.” Eisma explained. She added that under government protocol, the DOH can assign and apportion PUIs among different hospitals in order to manage overall capacity.

As care and isolation facilities, both Leciel Hotel and the Subic Gym will be under the supervision of experts from the DOH-Regional Epidemiology Surveillance Unit (RESU) and Baypointe Hospital, Eisma said.

The SBMA chief also said that as early as last month, the Subic agency has been eyeing the former Hanjin condominium at Subic’s Naval Magazine area for conversion into an isolation facility, but said venue was scrapped because it was too far.

Eisma also announced that the SBMA is trying to outsource a complete diagnostics Covid-19 test system from South Korea. She said this allow the SBMA to operate a remote dedicated center for Covid-19 tests in partnership with a DOH-accredited public laboratory or testing center.

“The overall plan for the SBFZ response is to strengthen local capacity to hunker down and withstand the worst, which is the possibility of a surge in local infections—while, at the same time, instituting tougher measures to suppress the virus and deprive its means of acquiring more targets,” Eisma said.

“It’s essentially a combination of defensive and offensive measures that presuppose a community that strictly observes quarantine and social distancing as the first line of defense, and then backed by a capable and reliable health care system,” she added.

Eisma also said that effective April 1, Subic Bay Freeport residents who shall exit the Freeport shall be required to surrender their SBMA ID and Quarantine Pass, thereby preventing their re-entry into the SBFZ. This will prevent Freeport residents from freely moving in and out of the zone, which is a violation of the Luzon-wide quarantine declared by Malacañang, she added.

TOP PHOTO: The facade of Leciel Hotel in the Subic Bay Freeport (Photo by Henry Empeño)