Phl won’t send Ebola workers

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is not sending health workers to Ebola-plagued countries in West Africa despite the World Health Organization (WHO)’s call for states to deploy health personnel.

Department of Health (DOH) spokesman Lyndon Lee Suy announced yesterday that the Philippine government has not made a commitment to WHO’s appeal to send health workers to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, but it is considering other assistance for these affected countries.

“We are not taking the call (to send health workers) but we are looking at other ways to help. We don’t have to be physically present there. Assistance is not only humanitarian, we can send money or in kind,” Lee Suy explained.

The government, he added, would rather focus on efforts to prepare the Philippines for the possible entry and spread of Ebola virus.

Lee Suy gave assurance that the Philippines is now in a better position to respond to the Ebola threat despite doubts on DOH’s capability to address the global health crisis.

“This is not the first time that we are receiving this kind of threat and because we have experienced preparing for MERS-COVs and SARS, we are now in a better position to address the threat of Ebola,” he said.

The DOH has sufficient supply of protective gear and other necessary equipment to prevent the spread of Ebola for the next three months.

The DOH has also identified one referral hospital for each of the country’s 17 regions and is readying the Lung Center of the Philippines, San Lazaro Hospital and the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine to accommodate possible Ebola cases.

Lee Suy said the DOH would train health personnel in all government and private hospitals on how to properly handle Ebola cases.

A number of Filipino workers have returned from West Africa, but Lee Suy said the country remains Ebola free.

He, however, called on Filipino workers who came from West Africa and other affected countries to truthfully declare their health condition to prevent the possible entry of Ebola virus in the Philippines.

Troops from Liberia to be quarantined

 The leadership of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), meanwhile, is eyeing two of its installations in Central Luzon where the 110 homebound Filipino peacekeepers from Liberia will be quarantined for 21 days.

Lt. Col. Harold Cabunoc, AFP Public Affairs Office chief, said the military facilities at Clark Air Field in Pampanga and Fort Magsaysay in Nueva Ecija are being considered to house the peacekeepers.

The troops served under the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Liberia and they are scheduled for repatriation on Nov. 10.

 Cabunoc said the 21-day quarantine period, which is mandatory for those coming from Liberia to ensure they are free of Ebola virus, does not necessarily mean the troops would be confined in medical facilities but they would be supervised by military doctors.

The AFP would also closely coordinate with the DOH in looking after the returning peacekeepers.

President Aquino ordered the repatriation of the Filipino peacekeepers due to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

Julie Hall, WHO country representative, said that until this time the WHO has not yet imposed a travel restriction on West Africa and is only encouraging those who came from Ebola-affected countries to truthfully declare their health condition to prevent possible spread of the disease. With Jaime Laude