Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade is set to donate an ambulance to Muntinlupa to be used for COVID-19 response efforts after being assigned in the city as an overseer by the Inter- Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Tugade said he would personally donate one ambulance to the City Health Office, in addition to five ambulances to be turned over by the Department of Health, during an online meeting with Mayor Jaime Fresnedi and other Muntinlupa executives last August 18. Fresnedi thanked Tugade and said the ambulance would be used for the transportation of COVID-19 patients and other emergency response activities.
Muntinlupa LGU officials have updated Tugade on local initiatives for testing, tracing, and treatment such as the construction of the city’s molecular laboratory, testing efforts, construction of additional isolation facilities, and contact tracing.
As of August 18, Muntinlupa City has conducted 11,770 PCR COVID-19 tests and 8,600 rapid tests.
Ospital ng Muntinlupa director Dr. Edwin Dimatatac reported that as of August 5, OsMun had 171 admitted patients for its 203 bed-capacity.
He noted that for their COVID-19 dedicated ward with 66 beds, 61 were already occupied.
While, there are 17 occupancy for its 54-bed capacity Quarantine Tent.
The local government of Muntinlupa has partnered with the Department of Public Works and Highways for the construction of an additional isolation facility in Pacwood Site, Brgy. Tunasan with 128-bed capacity.
For contact tracing, Muntinlupa has mobilized 17 teams consisting of 2-3 health workers per team to contact trace 15-17 contacts per confirmed case.
Further, Muntinlupa Traffic and Management Bureau chief Danidon Nolasco appealed for the utilization of e-tricycles from the Department of Energy (DOE) for COVID-19 response.
Nolasco said the local government was instructed to lease the units to tricycle operators as part of a memorandum of agreement with DOE.
He noted that the arrangement with TODAs had not materialized.
Tugade vowed to coordinate the concerns raised by Muntinlupa officials with the IATF and help in operationalizing national government services in the city.
Recently, cabinet members were assigned to Metro Manila cities and other provinces with high community transmission to strictly monitor health system performance, critical care capacity, and stringent compliance to surveillance, isolation, and treatment protocols.
Muntinlupa City has 2,522 confirmed cases with 1,601 recoveries, 823 active cases, 98 reported deaths, 1,011 suspect cases, and 775 probable cases as of August 17.