DOH-7 assures health workers are available

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Health in Central Visayas has declared a red alert starting yesterday morning to ensure that there would be enough standby medical personnel to respond to emergencies because of typhoon Ruby.

The declaration was made by DOH-7 director Jaime Bernades in congruence to the department order issued by acting health secretary Janette Garin.

Garin has instructed DOH personnel to augment and complement the multi-agencies involved in the evacuation of residents affected by this year's strongest typhoon to enter the Philippines.

"This does not only apply to the DOH-7 office but also to all DOH-retained hospitals in the region. This means, all responding personnel must be on duty and on standby for emergency," said Dr. Expedito Medalla, chief of DOH-7 Health Emergency Management Staff.

Point persons in each local government unit had been designated and tasked to coordinate directly to the regional office any development and status reports.

Bernadas also directed all nurses under the Nurses Deployment Program to report to the evacuation centers in their assigned locality to man the DOH desk and attend to the medical needs of evacuees.

The NDPs were likewise designated as point persons in the submission of locally-devised system of reporting called Surveillance in Post Extreme Emergencies and Disasters directly received by the DOH regional operational center operated by the HEMS. SPEED reporting is done at 4 p.m. every day.

As directed, pregnant women due for delivery within the month who are in the evacuation centers must be brought to the nearest government hospital to ensure their safety and prevent deliveries outside a health facility.

Medalla said that the agency has allotted P1.5 million for the preparation and response.

"Vaccines, medicines, and medical supplies have been prepared," Medalla said.

He said that DOH-7 is preparing to take over the functions of DOH in Eastern Visayas in the event that the latter fails to function due to the effect of the typhoon.

"That's what happened during last year's super typhoon Yolanda. We took over because they got severely affected. Right now, while we are preparing supplies and manpower for our region, we are also allotting a portion to Eastern Visayas just in case they'd need back up," Medalla explained.— FPL (FREEMAN)