NORTH COTABATO Governor Nancy Catamco has underscored the importance of boosting the province's isolation facilities to cope with a possible spike in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) infections.
During Monday's Provincial Management Committee (PMC) meeting, Catamco told Capitol officials to ramp up preparedness of both the provincial and local governments in the event the cases reach critical levels.
“Let us improve our capacity to respond,” she told the PMC members, pointing out that boosting local capacity remains one of the national government's main priorities.
Dr. Eva Rabaya, head of the Integrated Provincial Health Office, said her office has been in the thick of improving the health facilities of the M’lang District Hospital, one of the larger isolation facilities in the province aside from the provincial hospital.
During the meeting, provincial engineer Domingo Doyongan also told the governor that construction activities within and outside the M’lang hospital are in full swing.
Rabaya said the hospital operation was halted for three days for decontamination. It is expected to resume operation soon.
The latest confirmed Covid-19 cases in North Cotabato were five health workers of the Arakan Valley District Hospital in Antipas, North Cotabato.
Following the infection of the five hospital personnel, Catamco has ordered for the swabbing of all other hospital staff to ensure all are fit to serve the health facility.
Rabaya said one of the infected health front-liners was transferred to the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center due to the existence of co-morbidities.
“The rest are in stable condition and asymptomatic,” Rabaya said, adding that they have no history of travel to “high-risk areas.”
Last week, limited local transmissions of Covid-19 have been reported in Kidapawan City and the towns of Antipas and Midsayap.
Wanting an abrupt end to the local transmission, Catamco has directed local government units and health officials to work as one.
“The fight is far from over, we are not yet halfway, so we need to work harder,” she told the members of the provincial management team.
Dr. Philbert Malaluan, spokesperson of the provincial inter-agency task force on Covid-19, also called on everyone who was in the Arakan Valley Hospital from Sept 7-18 to visit their nearest Barangay Health Emergency Response Team for consultation.
To date, North Cotabato has a total of 107 confirmed cases with 48 active cases and 58 recoveries. It has one recorded Covid-19 death.(By Edwin Fernandez)
No comments:
Post a Comment