Dehydration, fever down MMDA men after papal visit

MANILA, Philippines - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday admitted that its clearing operations of the streets and venues of the recent five-day visit of Pope Francis in the country were proceeding “slowly” as many of its personnel got sick.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said street cleaners suffered from dehydration and had fever and colds after performing their tasks from Jan. 15 to 19 under the almost non-stop rain brought by Tropical Storm Amang.

The agency’s personnel feeling under the weather were advised to take a rest, said Francis Martinez, head of the Metro Parkway Clearing Group.

Despite the advisory, however, many “still wanted to report for work, saying they would do it for the pope,” Martinez said.

According to Martinez, the agency has collected as of yesterday afternoon 31 truckloads of trash from the Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park where the pope held his concluding mass last Sunday.

Some 186 tons of garbage, meanwhile, were gathered and dumped at a landfill near Pier 18 in Manila, he added.

The MMDA said they intend to finish the cleanup operations by early morning today.

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC), meanwhile, reported yesterday that its staff and volunteers attended to more than 3,000 emergency and medical cases during the five-day papal visit.

PRC secretary general Gwendolyn Pang said the agency had assisted a total of 3,306 patients during the various activities of the pope.

Of this figure, 1,521 were minor cases, which include elevated blood pressure, headache, dizziness, hyperventilation, nosebleed, sore throat, body pain, burns, fever and minor wounds, Pang noted.

Only 196 cases involved “hypotension, hypertension, difficulty of breathing, chest pain, possible fracture, asthma, difficulty of breathing involving pregnant woman, hypothermia, heart attack, mentally ill, burns and epileptic attacks,” she added.

Pang also said 64 patients were transported to hospital for various conditions like asthma attack, body stiffness, difficulty of breathing, vomiting, lack of pulse and one person who was hit by falling debris.

The PRC had also helped locate 499 missing people and provided hot meals to some faithful.

Pope Francis’ visit in Tacloban City in Leyte, which had to be cut short due to bad weather, accounted for 455 cases.

The pontiff’s concluding mass at Quirino Grandstand in Rizal Park, which was reportedly attended by a crowd of more than six million, accounted for 2,908 cases.

Medical teams of the Department of Health (DOH) also attended to medical cases in the last five days, said acting Health Secretary Janette Garin.

She, however, noted that a majority of the cases were only minor injuries, which she attributed to the discipline and good behavior of the crowd.

“I think it was also because of the close coordination among government agencies, civil society groups, private organization and other sectors involved in the activities. We really worked together for this,” she said. – With Sheila Crisostomo