DOH chief visits Iloilo amid dengue outbreak

By: Emme Rose Santiagudo

DEPARTMENT of Health (DOH) Secretary Francisco Duque III will visit Iloilo today, July 25, 2019, to check the situation in the city and the province amid the dengue outbreak.

The Department of Health-Center for Health Development (DOH-CHD)-6 confirmed that Duque will look at the situation of dengue patients in selected rural health units (RHUs) in Iloilo.

Duque will also meet with selected mayors and governors in the region to discuss the current dengue outbreak declared in Western Visayas.

Last week, all the five provinces in the region already declared a dengue outbreak.
On Tuesday, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan placed Iloilo province under a state of calamity due to dengue.

Meanwhile, the Iloilo City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (CDRRMC) passed on Wednesday a resolution recommending to the City Council the declaration of state of calamity due to dengue outbreak.

Mayor Jerry Treñas said that he already requested the City Council to conduct a special session on Friday for the approval of their resolution.

“I-recommend ta ang declaration sang state of calamity diri sa city because based sa figures sang city health it’s very alarming. We have to face this and importante matapna gid naton,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

The mayor said that he is yet to identify the exact budget to be used once the calamity declaration has been approved.

Nevertheless, he assured that he will only be spending the needed amount to procure sprayers, misting and fogging machines, testing kits, and other equipment to be distributed in barangays, schools, national government agencies, and civic organizations.

“We don’t know yet how much it will take but I promise that we will only spend what is needed. I will give sprayers, testing kits, and other equipment to all the barangays, schools, and all the civic organizations so that tanan kita magbinuligay kita,” he said.

If needed, Treñas said the City Hall will hire more doctors, nurses, midwifes, and medical technologists.

Based on the latest data from DOH-CHD 6, the region recorded 18,834 dengue cases with 94 deaths.

Iloilo province recorded the highest number of cases at 6,472 with 23 deaths while Iloilo City has 867 dengue cases with five deaths as of July 13, 2019.