‘HUNT THE VIRUS’: Fast, unified approach is key to curbing COVID

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

 

Iloilo City has a far better response mechanism to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) compared to Cebu City.

But certain areas need to be tweaked for a more effective approach to stop the spread of the virus.

Jeck Conlu, spokesperson of the Iloilo City COVID-19 team, said the National Interagency Task Force (NIATF) on COVID-19 suggested ways for a faster, more unified approach to control local transmission of the disease.

A major key is to hasten the release of RT-PCR tests on suspected cases. He noted that the subnational laboratory at Western Visayas Medical Center is swamped with specimens to the point that it limited the number of tests to 500 daily to ease the backlog.

Based on the latest advisory of WVMC-SNL, the turnaround time for the tests is around 10 to 11 days.

Conlu said one of the strategies suggested by Gen. Melquiades Feliciano, IATF Deputy Chief Implementer for the Visayas, is to hasten the release of swab tests so that the city team can immediately react.

“It takes 10 to 14 days for the results to be released. If that is the turnaround time, the virus has spread before we could isolate the positive persons. Our aim now is to help the SNL improve its capacity and spread and reach the 48-hour turnaround time which is now the norm in Cebu,” he added.

Conlu explained that if the results are released early, they can identify the patients, conduct contact tracing, and isolate the affected areas.

“It’s like hunting the virus. If we see COVID in an area based on the data, we can go there and isolate the households by surgical lockdown.”

Since the SNL has hundreds of backlogs, Conlu said they plan to send specimens from the city to Cebu where testing is faster.

Bacolod City is also an alternative since it has five molecular labs – two government-run facilities, five in private hospitals and another by the Red Cross.

Apart from the WVMC-SNL, the second laboratory in Iloilo City is run by a private hospital.

“The chief pathologist of the national IATF was here to help SNL and the city. And while we are working on improving our laboratory here, we will send the specimens from the city to Cebu so we can get faster results. Once the city’s temporary laboratory in Molo is up and running, we can expect a better situation here,” Conlu said.

He added that since the national task force is already in the thick of things, Iloilo City can ask for more help from the national government, especially in improving the SNL.

 

UNIFIED POLICIES

The city COVID-19 team will also go for unified policies among hospitals, both public and private.

“There are varying policies between government and private hospitals. So, the move is to unify everything, from admission of certain persons, whether COVID or non-COVID cases so there will be no confusion,” Conlu said.

Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Secretary Michael Lloyd Dino has committed to help fast track measures to bring down COVID-19 cases in Western Visayas.

Dino made this commitment during back-to-back meetings with local chief executives (LCEs) of the province of Iloilo and Negros Occidental, and the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo.

During the meetings, both cities of Iloilo and Bacolod have admitted that they lack medical frontliners, which also affected their COVID-19 response.

As advised by Dino, the Department of Health (DOH) Region 7 will provide a list of manpower and will tap Region 7’s human resources while DOH-6 will use its budget to hire more medical workers.

According to Central Command chief Lt. Gen. Roberto Ancan, the central command will also provide three teams of medical workers – two for Bacolod City and one for Iloilo City.

During the peak of rising cases in Cebu City, the DOH-7 regional office hired additional doctors and nurses to augment existing manpower at the public and private hospitals, which at the time faced the lack of medical personnel to take care of COVID-19 patients.

Dino also promised that a Malasakit Center, a one-stop-shop for government medical-financial assistance, will be established in Western Visayas State University Hospital, a tertiary public hospital in Iloilo, and in the Iloilo Provincial Hospital.

A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is being worked out in Malacañang to facilitate the establishment of these centers.

Dino also vowed to provide hospital beds for the St. Theresa’s Hospital, a step-down facility in Iloilo, within two weeks from the time of his visit.

The Iloilo city government is set to hasten the conversion of the hospital into a city hospital because it needs more health facilities.

Dino announced that he has asked Feliciano to lead in institutionalizing the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in both cities. Feliciano has promised he will stay two to three weeks in both cities.

 

CONCERNS

Dino, Feliciano and Secretary Roy Cimatu, who is the chief implementer of IATF COVID-19 Response, first met with Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor and Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas.

They discussed issues, challenges, and gaps and how the national government can help in their COVID-19 response to mitigate the rising cases of the SARS CoV2 virus transmission in the region.

The three officials then met with Negros Occidental Governor Eugenio Jose “Bong” Lacson on the evening of August 26, during which they discussed the issues and concerns in the province.

Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia met with Cimatu, Dino, and Feliciano in a meeting at noon on August 29.

Aside from the assessment of the city’s COVID response, issues and gaps, the leaders also discussed the help to be offered by Cimatu, Dino, and Feliciano to accelerate and manage the bulk testing of 10,000 people, which is set to start in the city this week.

During the Bacolod trip, five units of High Flow Nasal Canula were turned over to Corazon Locsin Regional Memorial Medical Hospital (CLMMRH).

These units, which came from Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center (VSMMC), will help the breathing of patients who suffer from COVID-19 or other respiratory problems. At the same time, these will also protect frontliners from getting infected by their patients.

Ten units of Remdesivir Lyophilized Powder for infusion was also turned-over to the CLMMC, which will enable the hospital to address the needs of COVID-19 patients.

In the two cities visited, Cimatu emphasized the vital role of barangay captains in the anti-COVID campaign since the battle starts at the barangay level.

Meanwhile, part of the challenges raised by Mayor Treñas was about unpaid PhilHealth claims, and the remaining pending balances due to the city from Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) during the quarantine of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in various hotels in the city.

Dino promised that he would be monitoring the developments on these concerns, and has assigned personnel to oversee developments to speed-up the settlement.