MALAPASCUA ISLAND in Daanbantayan town in northern Cebu will soon have a decompression chamber that will ensure immediate medical response for divers and local fishermen in case of accidents and emergencies.
Malapascua Island is one of Cebu’s top tourist
destinations, especially for local and international divers and diving
enthusiasts, because of its pristine beauty and rich marine life.
Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura revealed this during
the tourism stakeholders meeting recently where Governor Gwendolyn Garcia
announced the reopening of the island’s tourism industry. Shimura admitted
that the absence of a decompression chamber has been a struggle for them as
there are high tendencies of decompression sickness among divers.
Decompression sickness happens when nitrogen from a
diver’s tank form bubbles in the tissues and bloodstream causing tingling
sensation, numbness, and eventually, paralysis.
Shimura said Garcia committed to allocate funds for
the decompression chamber which costs around P9 million to P12 million from the
2021 budget of the Province of Cebu. He assured the governor that Malapascua
Island already has a clinic from the Department of Health and the newly
inaugurated multi-purpose building which can be utilized as rooms for
in-patients.
He also promised to provide a medical doctor trained
to operate the decompression chamber that will be given a permanent position in
the municipal government of Malapascua. This is in addition to the doctor
that has been visiting the island three times a week, which he hopes to be
present in the island everyday starting this month.
Roberto Pipo, one of the dive masters in
Malapascua, expressed relief since a decompression chamber in the island would
be of great help to local dive masters and diving tourists who are always
exposed to this risk whenever at sea. “Bisag unsa ka safety, muabot gyud ang
time na naa’y too much nitrogen in the body. If maigo ka ana, kinahanglan pa
nga i-adto sa Cebu City. If naa na ang chamber diri sa isla, dako ang chance na
maluwas ang diver,” he said.
Pipo said the equipment will boost the confidence
of local divers and assure tourists that Malapascua is a safe diving area.
Malapascua Dive Guides and Boat Crew Association
President Dennis Bryan Bait-it expressed optimism about the project and said
the decompression chamber is important and vital especially now that the
island’s tourism has been finally reopened.
He assured Garcia and the Provincial Tourism Task
Force that the dive guides of Malapascua will be the “first soldiers” in the
implementation of the Executive Order No. 20-A which establishes the tourism
protocols and guidelines.
Aside from the decompression chamber, Shimura said the
local government of Daanbantayan with the help of local divers, have installed 9
marker buoys and mooring blocks in Malapascua’s 16 diving sites. He said the buoys
worth P2.8 million was sourced from their realigned 2019 budget and the
remaining seven buoys will be taken from their 2021 budget.
The mayor said the buoys have mooring blocks where
boat operators can secure their boats while tourists are diving without the
need of dropping the anchors to the seafloor that might damage the coral reefs
below. He added that information on the specific dive spots can be seen in the
buoys and there is also light which can help guide boats navigate at night.
(Lianne Llesol)
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