The Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC) voiced anew their gratitude to Cagayan de Oro City Hall for helping decongest their backlog of non-COVID-19 cases through JR Borja General Hospital and the barangay health centers.

“We are thankful to the city which had long absorbed our non-COVID-19 cases and to other local governments in Northern Mindanao for operating their own isolation units (which prevented NMMC from being crowded with patients),” said NMMC liaison officer Dr. Bernard Julius Rocha.

During Wednesday noon´s (July 15) press briefing, Dr. Rocha said it would be a far different situation if all local governments in the region sent their COVID-19 cases to NMMC.

“Imagine if that happens, we have limited facilities and we would be overwhelmed (with mild to severe COVID-19 patients),” Dr. Rocha added.

All of the COVID-19 positive patients in Cagayan de Oro City were housed in the city temporary treatment and monitoring facility (TTMF). Kagay-anon arrivals who came from across the country or abroad are brought straight to the city´s isolation units from the airport, seaport and bus terminals for their two-week quarantine.

NMMC is designated by the Department of Health (DOH-10) as Region 10´s COVID-19 referral hospital.

“By providing quarantine quarters (to their COVID-19 patients) and handling all non-COVID-19 cases, City Hall helped shoulder NMMC´s burden and bolstered its capacity to deal with more severe COVID-19 cases,” Dr. Rocha said.