The city government of Manila will build another hospital to meet the growing needs of its constituents and address the continuous rise of Covid-19 cases.

It will be the city’s seventh public hospital, the others being Ospital ng Sampaloc, Ospital ng Tondo, Ospital ng Maynila, Sta. Ana Hospital, Justice Abad Santos Medical Center, and Gat Andres Bonifacio Medical Center.

The 344-bed Manila Covid-19 Field Hospital at the Quirino Grandstand, launched in June, also accepts even non-residents with mild to moderate Covid-19 cases.

During a meeting with the city council on Monday, Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso said the planned hospital will be built in the Baseco area in Tondo where the housing project for indigent families, Basecommunity, is located.

“Hindi na sila makikipagpatintero sa truck sa R-10 para pumunta sa Ospital ng Maynila o pumunta ng Gat Andres (Bonifacio Memorial Medical Center). Tatayuan natin sila ng ospital (They will no longer risk their lives to be able to go the Ospital ng Maynila or to the Gat Andres. We will build a hospital for them),” Domagoso said.

The city government also procured pulmonary and cardiovascular equipment needed to treat Covid-19 patients and there are also stocks of tocilizumab and remdesivir for severe cases.

As of noontime Tuesday, the Manila Health Department (MHD) logged 1,301 active Covid-19 cases after recording 327 new cases.

Sampaloc still has the most number of active cases with 308, Sta. Cruz has 169, and Tondo 1 has 152 Covid-19 cases.

Binondo and Intramuros only have three and two active cases, respectively.

On Monday, the city vaccinated 95.48 percent or 30,650 individuals of its target 32,000 individuals for the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The city has so far administered 2,134,696 Covid-19 vaccines as of 7 p.m. on Monday, 891,992 of them as second doses. (PNA)