Manny Villar. FILE PHOTO
Tycoon Manuel Villar has teamed up with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and construction firm EEI Corp. to convert in 10 days’ time part of The Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) into a much-needed COVID-19 treatment and monitoring facility.
“In these challenging times, I would like to give you the firm assurance of our companies’ commitment to extend help in whichever way we can and converting PICC to a health facility in the fastest time we can is just one of them,” said Villar, chair and founder of the Villar group of companies.
Halls 1 to 3 of PICC will be converted into a facility for COVID-19 patients-under-monitoring (PUMs) and patients-under-investigation (PUIs). The PICC Forum Halls is a multi-purpose venue with usable area of about 4,000 square meters. Once converted, it is estimated to cater to the treatment of about 630 COVID-19 patients.
The immediate conversion of PICC Forum Halls to an improvised health facility is seen to significantly provide an optimal isolation space for monitoring of people infected by COVID-19 as most health facilities in Metro Manila have either hit or neared maximum capacity.
Once completed, operation of PICC’s temporary health facility for treatment and monitoring of patients experiencing mild respiratory symptoms such as fever, cough, and colds will be under the supervision of the Department of Health (DOH).