A CABINET contingent will arrive here on Thursday to assess the local coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) situation amid the continuing increase in cases that has taken a toll on the city’s health care system.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said in a statement on Wednesday that he was informed by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go of the scheduled visit after the mayor himself sent an urgent appeal to President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday.
Those who will arrive are Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Lloyd Dino and Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu, along with Gen. Mel Feliciano, partner of Cimatu in the Cebu special mission.
“Secretary Dino promised that the national government ‘will go all the way’ and give ‘full support’ to Bacolod,” Leonardia said.
During their visit, the Cabinet officials will hold separate meetings with officials of Bacolod City and Negros Occidental.
Leonardia said he also received a phone call from Peace Process Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr., the chief implementer of the National Task Force on Covid-19, who promised to catch up with the Thursday meeting.
If he cannot make it, Galvez will instead come to Bacolod next week, the mayor said.
On Tuesday, Leonardia sent an emergency and urgent letter of appeal to President Duterte, requesting him to send to Bacolod, through the Department of Health (DOH), an augmentation team of 150 nurses, 20 doctors, and 30 medical technologists as an “emergency stop-gap measure” amid the lack of medical personnel in hospitals.
The mayor said he was alarmed by the fact that since August 23, Bacolod hospitals had refused the admission of Covid-19 patients as they have already reached full capacity or that there are no more doctors and nurses to take care of additional patients.
“Our need for medical staff to fill up the gap in our hospitals is great, Mr. President. Patients have already died in their homes for failing to avail of emergency hospital services,” Leonardia told the Chief Executive.
Moreover, Leonardia said that Galvez committed “to deploy Region 7 (Central Visayas) nurses and doctors (to Bacolod)” and will also arrange with the DOH-Western Visayas to bring in more medical personnel.
He also said that Maj. Gen. Robert Ancan, chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Central Command, committed to deploying a medical team composed of army doctors, nurses, and support health workers to Bacolod.
As of Tuesday, Bacolod has 765 confirmed cases, including 17 deaths. (By Nanette Guadalquiver)
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