GMA to DOH, DepEd: Keep students safe from SARS

President Arroyo ordered all concerned government agencies yesterday to ensure the protection of students from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) when classes open on June 9.

The President directed the Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Education to work closely with administrators from both public and private schools in coming out with appropriate measures against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

She also urged principals and other school-related sectors to cooperate with the government’s efforts to prevent the spread of SARS among Filipino students.

"The opening of classes will demand of our people another round alertness to protect the health of our students," Arroyo said.

Arroyo said extra-ordinary precautions are necessary to prevent the spread of SARS, an incurable illness that has already caused the death of five Filipinos here and abroad.

The Department of Health (DOH) had earlier recommended a two-week deferment in the scheduled opening of classes to enable health authorities to conduct massive information on how to avoid SARS among schools nationwide.

Fear factor

A DOH official revealed yesterday that some private hospitals "do not want to have anything to do with SARS "for fear that admitting those suspected of having SARS will scare away other patients.

"There are hospitals that do not have the capability to quarantine SARS cases. But some of those that do have isolation facilities do not want to do so because they are worried that admitting SARS patients will drive away other patients, afraid of getting infected by the disease," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

This was the experience of a private clinic in Villasis, Pangasinan, where SARS victim Adela Catalon was first brought before she was quarantined at the government-run San Lazaro Hospital (SLH) in Manila, where she died.

The official said that to compensate for the reluctance of private hospitals to admit suspected SARS cases, the DOH is now upgrading the capability of its regional hospitals to handle the cases that come from the provinces.

In Metro Manila, the DOH has tapped the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) and SLH as referral centers for SARS cases.

In an earlier interview, DOH National Epidemiology Center chief Dr. Consorcia Quizon said there are private hospitals in Metro Manila that are willing to take in SARS patients, but only the Makati Medical Center wants this announced to the public.

Quizon said the DOH welcomes private medical institutions willing to assist the government in its anti-SARS campaign.

So far, only three of the country’s 12 SARS cases have been admitted to private hospitals in Metro Manila: a German national, a 34-year-old Filipino female software technician who came from Taiwan and a 64-year-old Filipino businessman who arrived from Singapore. The three of them have recovered from SARS but the businessman remains confined because of infections not related to SARS.

Quizon said the admission of SARS cases into private hospitals will not affect the DOH’s efforts to monitor local SARS transmissions.

"Private doctors are bound to report to the DOH all SARS cases they admit because SARS is a reportable disease… We have to know all suspected SARS cases that might surface so we can (trace) people who came in contact with them," she said. – Mayen Jaymalin, Sheila Crisostomo