MAYOR Oscar Moreno said he was pleased by Department of Health (DOH) Regional Director Adriano Suba-an's announcement that he will work to establish the emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases (Ereid) facility in Barangay San Simon, Cagayan de Oro as a Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) in Mindanao.
"Di pa nato ma-appreciate at this time, di pa nato makita how important it is to us pero pag abot ana nga panahon, wow. Wala na ta ana when the time comes, pero at least the initial steps are now being made," Moreno said.
He added that with the space limitation of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC), the Ereid facility in Barangay San Simon can serve as the people's "one-stop-shop" for health, citing the likelihood of its services expanding beyond infectious diseases.
"Kanang San Simon can serve the one-stop-shop purpose much better (than NMMC). Not necessarily na for infectious diseases lang, mo-expand pa na sya," Moreno said.
Moreno said that during their meeting with Suba-an, he raised the possibility of expanding the Ereid facility into a "health complex."
The 5-hectare Ereid facility has a 75-bed capacity and is designed in coordination with the DOH and NMMC's Infectious Diseases Department to receive mild to asymptomatic Covid-19 patients.
It will contain a bio-safety level 2 laboratory that will house the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) machines.
The two-story facility is more than half done and is expected to be completed by November.