WAITING IN VAIN: Four PUIs in WV expire while awaiting COVID-19 test results

By Emme Rose Santiagudo

Amid claims of special treatment for politicians in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing, four patients under investigation (PUI) in Region 6 died while waiting for their confirmatory results, the Department of Health Western Visayas-Center for Health Development (DOH-WV-CHD) reported Monday.

The four PUIs in Bacolod City, Capiz, Negros Occidental, and Iloilo City had travel histories and possible exposure to confirmed cases, according to Dr. Jane Juanico, head of the DOH-6 Infectious Disease Division.

PUIs are persons with signs and symptoms and were possibly exposed to confirmed cases

“Sudden, onset, and unexplainable ang ila pagkamatay. Most of them had history of fever and cough and nagtugma man nga may travel history sila sa mga places nga may confirmed cases,” Juanico said in a phone interview on Monday.

Juanico said three of the four deceased PUIs have already been cremated.

“May isa lang kami navalidate kon natapos na cremate kay gusto ang pamilya pa pero na-settle naman sang local government unit,” she said.

Cadavers of the PUIs must be cremated within 12 hours without undergoing embalming as part of the standard protocol, she added.

“Within 12 hours dapat ma-cremate ang aton patients. Since gin-label sila sang attending physicians nila nga PUIs dapat i-cremate sila without embalming. May proper protocol man nga ginasunod ang embalmer kag gahimos sang aton cadaver especially mga infectious disease,” she said.

Juanico said the samples of the four PUIs were sent yesterday to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine. But their confirmatory results remain pending.

Meanwhile, confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region remained at two.

The 56-year-old Filipino male from Bacolod City, the first positive case in the region, is now “well improved” while contact tracing is still ongoing, according to Juanico.

The region’s second COVID-19 case in Iloilo province, a 65-year-old Filipino male, is “clinically stable” but still on guarded condition. His wife, who was his only close contact, is admitted to a hospital in Iloilo City.

Moreover, 51 persons who had possible exposure to the second positive case have been identified as persons under monitoring (PUM).

Juanico said the region has 161 PUIs, wherein 61 have been discharged, 63 were admitted, and 33 were managed as outpatients.

“So far, most of them are clinically stable,” she noted.