THE infirmary intended as a first response facility in Cebu for mildly coronavirus disease (Covid-19) symptomatic persons who cannot be quarantined at home is expected to be activated next week.
The Bayanihan Cebu Center is located at the basketball court of the old building of the SHS-Ateneo de Cebu, along Gen. Maxilom Ave. in Cebu City.
On Sunday, March 29, Secretary Michael Dino of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas, Cebu City Councilor Raymond Garcia and Regional Development Council 7 Chairman Kenneth Cobonpue met with the doctors and physical committee of the infirmary together with the representatives of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (Rafi), for its final inspection.
Dr. Tony San Juan, member of the committee on physical plan, said they have considered factors including the air flow in the infirmary and the steps to segregate incoming patients to make sure that there will be no cross contamination among health care workers and the patients who come in.
“The last thing we want is droplet contamination so the air flow has to be in one direction. We could not have it flow to the community there because it is going to be an issue. What we figure is to have it move towards the space at the back,” he said.
To do this, he said, they have to use big industrial fans to blow the air towards the desired direction and the condenser fans that set out mist (a solution of hydrogen peroxide, a non-toxic but disinfectant solution.)
Rafi and other private groups have already pledged assistance to the lacking equipment for the infirmary.
The infirmary is divided into yellow zone and red zone.
The yellow zone is for patients who are presumed to be positive but only with mild to moderate symptoms and do not need hospitalization while awaiting for confirmatory test result as to whether they are positive for Covid-19 or not.
San Juan said patients in yellow zone have to be divided by transparent partitions so they cannot contaminate each other if they have the disease.
The red zone, on one hand, is for those who are already tested positive of the virus.
The infirmary also has a swabbing area, a donning and doffing area, and a decontamination area called as sunny station tubes for health care workers, he added.
The said infirmary is better to rooms outside of the hospital as it does not contain dense droplets. The DOH said the disease can be passed through droplets from infected patients.
Moreover, around 30 volunteer nurses and nine volunteer doctors are needed to be on duty for the infirmary for a total of three weekly shifts. The facility is expected to cater to around 120 patients
Initially, the first group of volunteer nurses and doctors are to be on duty for the first week and will undergo quarantine for the next two weeks before they can go back on duty on the fourth week.
OPAV and the Cebu City are still working on proposals about the volunteers’ honorarium. (WBS)