By HENRY EMPEÑO | Subic Bay Freeport

A 500-bed facility for the treatment and monitoring of patients infected with the new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was opened here on Wednesday to increase the country’s healthcare system surge capacity and allow hospitals In Metro Manila to care for more patients with medium to severe symptoms.

The “We Heal As One Center” located at the sprawling and gated former Cubi Hospital complex deep in the forest of Ilanin East here, was opened as the government sought to decongest public hospitals at the National Capital Region where occupancy rate was already at the breaking point.

The facility is an inter-agency cooperation project of the Department of Health (DOH), Office of Civil Defense (OCD), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), Bureau of Quarantine (BOQ), Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Jose B. Lingad Memorial General Hospital (JBLMGH), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG).

BCDA President and National Task Force (NTF) against Covid-19 Deputy Chief Implementer Vivencio “Vince” Dizon said during the project inauguration here that the facility will benefit patients not only from the Subic Bay and Central Luzon areas, but also from Manila.

“In fact, I’ve already received calls from a lot of local government units that wanted to know if they can bring patients here,” Dizon revealed.

He said the “We Heal As One Center” will eventually have a 500-bed capacity from the present 371 beds, plus 100 beds that will be available at the former U.S. Naval Hospital, which can take in patients with severe symptoms.

In the same occasion, SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma pledged another 34 hospital beds to be transferred from the care and isolation facility that the SBMA has put up last year at the Subic Gym, which became a DOH-certified community isolation unit for Covdi-19 cases on July 29, 2020.

“This will be SBMA’s contribution to this national effort,” Eisma said.

She added that with the operation of the Covid-19 wellness center at Cubi, the SBMA has been granted its request that a dedicated number of beds will be allotted for Subic Freeport stakeholders, including residents, business locators and SBMA employees.

“Tulong-tulong tayo rito (We will help each other in this project),” Eisma also said.

Eisma had earlier defended the mega facility project after some Subic stakeholders expressed fear that it might lead to more Covid-19 exposure among local residents and workers.

The SBMA chief also assured stakeholders that the remote location of the facility, as well as strict health protocols observed in Subic, would ensure the safety of the Subic community, as well as those involved in the management of the Covid-19 treatment and monitoring facility.

To this, Subic Bay Freeport Chamber of Commerce (SBFCC) president Benjamin Antonio III agreed, saying that the location of the facility “provides a conducive environment for individuals who would need to be isolated because of the COVID-19 virus.”

Antonio said he was “quite confident in the arrangements our government will institute to protect our community, since the complex is well-guarded and fenced, and our healthcare workers are some of the best trained.”

“Moreover, I know that the stakeholders of the Subic Bay Freeport would take this as an opportunity to provide help to our countrymen. We cannot disconnect ourselves from their sufferings. We persistently speak of compassion—now is the chance to display it,” he added. ~