KALIBO, Aklan – The Provincial Health Office is urging the public to support medical workers who have been risking their lives on the fight against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
PHO head Dr. Cornelio Cuachon Jr. said many frontliners and healthcare workers of Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital (DRSTMH) in this capitol town are being subjected to discrimination due to concerns of local transmission.
Several reports have reached the PHO-Aklan that some frontliners were ostracized from their rented boarding house for fear they are carriers of coronavirus. Some are forced to walk to get to work after tricycle drivers refused them access to public transport.
Other medical workers also reported that their neighbors keep their distance from them on suspicions they have been closed contacts of coronavirus patients.
In a radio interview, Cuachon said these healthcare and emergency workers who have been battling the Covid-19 on the frontlines need the encouragement and support of people.
The Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases has urged the local government units and the police to protect the medical workers from discrimination and harm and to hold the perpetrators liable for the violence, crime or any form of discrimination.
In related news, the province logs 74 confirmed cases, of which five were currently admitted in isolation wards of Aklan provincial hospital.
Aklan has 252 pending cases with Western Visayas Medical Center (WVMC) sub-national laboratory in Iloilo City for confirmatory tests especially those swab samples of closed contacts of positive cases from Bakhaw Norte, Kalibo.
Health authorities also reported two new coronavirus deaths from Kalibo, Aklan. They were initially admitted as Covid-19 suspects from other hospitals. The swab specimens were collected for reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test.
The WVMC test results on Sept. 17 showed they were positive for coronavirus.
Cuachon said there are ongoing risk assessments of healthcare workers of DRSTMH. If they have flu like symptoms, they are isolated and advised not to report to work or duty.
Contact tracing teams are also established by the DRSTMH to identify closed contacts of infected healthcare workers. (With a report from Akean Forum/PN)