Rama: CCMC only for city residents

CEBU, Philippines - After he learned that not all dengue patients in the Cebu City Medical Center are his constituents, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama asked those from other local government units to go to other hospitals so as not to drain the city’s resources.

Rama explained that those who are already admitted at the CCMC, will not be kicked out of the hospital unless they have fully recovered.

He hopes that the LGUs, from where these patients come from, would take care of their own people.

Of the average 28 dengue patients admitted at CCMC daily, chief of Hospital Myrna Go said that 35 to 40 percent are from the province while the rest are city residents.

CCMC was earlier instructed to accept all dengue patients, who want to avail of the hospital’s free medical treatment, but it did not mean that even residents from the province may avail of the said benefits.

“The incidence of dengue will bring us all to the conclusion that it is not all from Cebu City. But we’re not saying that we will let them go back where they are from. They are there already. But of course I wish, if it is possible, wherever they are from, the local government will take care of their own,” Rama said.

He said that while they are not complaining, the provincial government specifically the individual towns and cities in the province must be more sensitive to the problem because the city could not remain a refuge for dengue patients forever.

“We’re just calling the attention. Why are they here? Maybe there is no such thing as program there, the same as what the city of Cebu is doing,” he said.

“If they are not ready to that, the big brother program again would be here to extend help. But sometimes we might end up defying the statement of charity begins at home,” he added.

Last year, former mayor and now Congressman of the South District Tomas Osmeña ordered that non-city residents are not allowed to avail of the medical services of the CCMC.

But Dr. Lee James Maratas, head of the CCMC’s pediatric ward admitted that they do not refuse to accommodate any patient, who needs treatment on dengue. They consider the dengue disease as a disease that needs immediate attention.

The city government gave CCMC a subsidy of P5 million on top of its regular budget to purchase medicine and pay for the laboratory test expenses so patients may get the treatment for free.

CCMC spends an average of P5,000 per patient and even more for those with higher grade dengue.

The P5 million initial fund provided by the city was already used up during the second quarter of this year, which prompted the hospital to conduct an emergency procurement of fluids and other medicines.

City Treasurer Ofelia Oliva said that her office is now preparing a P10 million cash advance to be charged against the calamity funds to purchase additional medicine and equipment for treatment and prevention of dengue.

Of the additional P10 million, P6 million already has a breakdown while the P4 million will be stand by fund in case there is a need for another emergency purchase when there is a sudden increase in the number of patients.

Records from the Cebu City Epidemiology Statistics and Surveillance Unit shows that as of August this year, the number of dengue cases already reached 1175 – about 16.45 percent higher than the 1009 cases during the same period last year.

Nationwide, there are only 33,102 cases from January to August 2009 while there are already 62,503 cases during the same period this year. These figures indicate a whopping 88 percent increase in dengue cases.

Rama said that the city did not fail in addressing the dengue crisis as proven by the increase rate lower than the national rate but said however that there is a reason to be alarmed.

As of yesterday, there were 28 dengue patients admitted at the CCMC. Weekly, the hospital admits more than 50 patients excluding the patients who stay only at the Dengue Observation Room.

The surge of dengue patients forced the hospital to implement the twin sharing of beds last week, but Rama instructed the hospital to make sure only one patient uses a bed at one time. The CCMC extended the dengue lane to the hospital auditorium for the meantime. Dengue lane used to have only 10 beds.

Rama yesterday revived the Dengue Education Awareness and Reduction (DEAR) Program where the city introduced new strategies on how they can better address the problem in all 80 barangays.

TASK FORCE DENGUE

The Task Force Dengue in the Province of Cebu headed by Provincial Board Member Sergio Restauro started spraying activities in barangays as a way of preventing and eliminating additional dengue cases in the province.

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, who appointed Restauro to head the task force, said that she has been asking the Provincial Health office to fully coordinate and support the effort.

Capitol records show that the top 10 LGUs with the most dengue cases are Toledo City, 99; Talisay City, 89; Danao City, 88; Balamban, 86; Minglanilla, 61; Asturias, 53; Bogo City and Daanbantayan, 41; Liloan, 40; Argao, 38; and Medellin, 37.

Garcia said that LGUs with the most number of dengue cases are also those that have a higher population.

“We do call our city and municipal health officials to provide safety measures in each of their municipalities and call on Provincial Health Office for assistance in any way that they can extend,” she said.

Restauro’s team already has conducted spraying activities in barangays Pitalo and Sangat in San Fernando; barangay Ward 2, Minglanilla; and Campo 3, Jaclupan, Talisay City.

Garcia said, “We have to prioritize those areas that have the most number of cases and I am referring that to Dr. Restauro to schedule and to determine which areas. We’ll undertake whatever measures are necessary. He has my full support,” she said. 

The province has spent close to P1 million to purchase the machines and the chemicals used in the activities.

The task force reportedly uses the chemical called Deluge, which is tagged as environmentally friendly.

The use of fogging has, however, been said to be ineffective against dengue as it only drives the mosquitoes away and is not friendly to the environment. —/NLQ (THE FREEMAN)