COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The Bangsamoro government gave two more hospitals in Maguindanao medical ventilators to boost efficiency in addressing the COVID-19 problem in the province.
Lawyer Naguib Sinarimbo and physician Amirel Usman, local government and health ministers of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, respectively, turned over the ventilators to the Maguindanao provincial hospital and the Datu Blah Sinsuat District Hospital during a simple rite Monday.
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The event, held at the BARMM capitol in Cotabato City, was witnessed by other regional officials and representatives from both hospitals.
The Maguindanao provincial hospital in Shariff Aguak town and the Datu Blah Sinsuat Hospital, most known as the DBS Hospital in Upi, Maguindanao, both have COVID-19 isolation facilities.
Physician Michael Macion, chief of the DBS Hospital, said he is grateful to Sinarimbo and Usman for providing them with a ventilator that they can use for critically-ill COVID-19 patients.
The two hospitals also got from the BARMM government an electric air purifier each.
The BARMM government had earlier constructed a P22-million COVID-19 isolation building in the DBS Hospital compound in Barangay Nuro in Upi, an upland town in the first district of Maguindanao.
Upi Mayor Ramon Piang said Tuesday BARMM’s continuing support to the common fight against the coronavirus of their local government unit and the DBS Hospital is essential in preventing the spread of the viral disease in the local communities.
"Our LGU alone cannot do that. We ought to thank the offices of Attorney Sinarimbo and Doctor Usman for helping us out," Piang said.
The United Nations Development Programme helped in the importation of the units from abroad, according to Sinarimbo, concurrent regional spokesperson of the BARMM government.