Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark A. Villar announced the completion of the six (6)-storey Center for Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Disease (CERID) at East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC) in Quezon City.
As the government attends to the health emergency, the DPWH thru the Task Force to Facilitate Augmentation of Local and National Healthcare Facilities is glad to have provided technical and construction management assistance to Department of Health (DOH) and to the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) in expediting the completion of the 3rd to 6th floors of the new hospital building of EAMC, said Secretary Villar.
In his report to Secretary Villar, Undersecretary and Task Force head Emil K. Sadain said that the new hospital building which was inaugurated Monday, August 17, 2020 would enable EAMC to accommodate more patients in need of medical attention especially the COVID-19 patients.
Although ground and second floors were already operational prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the DPWH Task Force was instructed by Secretary Villar to coordinate with the DOH and conduct further review on the plans and programs of the hospital building project and recommended catch up scheme to accelerate the completion of other floor levels, said Undesecretary Sadain.
The inauguration of CERID was attended by National Task Force against COVID-19 chief implementer Secretary Carlito G. Galvez Jr.; Undersecretary Sadain; DOH Undersecretary Leopoldo J. Vega, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte; and officials of EAMC led by the Medical Center Chief Alfonso G. Nunez III.
Meanwhile, two (2) additional dormitories for 64 medical doctors and staff recently completed by DPWH at the Quezon Memorial Circle will be turn-over on August 20, 2020 to the Quezon City local government to provide safer and better lodging for the modern heroes.
These two (2) newly-completed dormitories are an addition to the previously completed four (4) dormitories which are almost full of healthcare workers from National Kidney Transplant Institute (NKTI), East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC), Philippine Heart Center (PHC), and Children’s Hospital.
In the coming months, other pop-up hospitals will also be constructed by DPWH inside the compound of the Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP), Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center, and Dr. Jose N. Rodriguez Memorial Hospital to augment the need for more facilities.
