KALIBO, Aklan – The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) hired 83 contact tracers in Aklan to sustain the pandemic response efforts in the province.
The province’s allocation was increased to 83 from 74 to fast-track the contact tracing of suspects and probable coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases in 17 municipalities.
They are employed under a contract of service status with a minimum salary of P18,000 for aggressive tracing of close contacts and monitoring of infections.
The pool of contact tracers in Aklan underwent training.
There were 74 contact tracers hired for six months from Feb. 8 to Aug. 8. The contracts of contact tracers expired this month, but were renewed until Dec. 31, 2021.
Aklan has so far logged 11,447 confirmed cases, 21 of whom were detected local cases of the Delta variant. There are also 860 active infections and 283 deaths.
On July 19, 2021, Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) member Jay Tejada supported the extension and deployment of contact tracers by DILG in the province.
“At no other time than now that the province is in dire need of contract tracers in the midst of the surging COVID-19 infections,” he stressed.
Tejada and SP ex-officio member Ricardo Ibarreta sponsored Resolution No. 2021-1322 requesting the DILG for the immediate rehiring of contact tracers.
“Katuwang ang contact tracers ng ating mga healthcare front liners lalo na may more infectious strain ng COVID,” Tejada said./PN
