ILOILO City – Twenty-three healthcare workers in Western Visayas got infected with the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), latest data from the Department of Health (DOH) showed. These healthcare workers were composed of 12 doctors, six nurses, one radio technologist, three midwives, and one medical technician, according to Dr. Renilyn Reyes, head of DOH Region 6’s Public Health Program Development.
The 12 doctors were based in Aklan (one), Iloilo province (one) and Iloilo City (10).
Also, six non-medical frontliners got infect with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, said Reyes.
They were a barangay councilman, two Barangay Health Workers, one Barangay Nutrition Scholar, one Barangay Service Point Officer, and one ambulance driver.
These 23 healthcare workers were 7.5 percent of the 307 total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the region as of June 29 DOH data.
Reyes described healthcare workers, especially those assigned as medical frontliners, as “high risk” for COVID-19 infection because they directly deal with patients.
She urged healthcare workers to constantly revisit safety protocols.
“In writing maayo ang protocols but ang implementation amo na ang tan-awon,” said Reyes.
She also stressed the importance of triaging – assigning levels of priority to patients to determine the most effective order in which to deal with them.
Determining if a case is a COVID patient or non-COVID patient is crucial, said Reyes for better medical response.
“Kon magsulod ang pasyente you cannot immediately tell kon COVID-19 patient or non-COVID patient that’s why ang aton protocol amo nga proper triaging and screening of patients,” she further explained.
The public should thus be appreciative of healthcare workers, said Reyes, because of their heroic work in this time of pandemic.
She urged them not to discriminate healthcare workers, especially those who got infected with SARS-CoV-2, but instead show them compassion and extend support.
“Tungod sila ang gabulig sa pag-manage sang mga (COVID cases),” said Reyes.
Early this week, DOH announced that eight doctors at St. Paul’s Hospital of Iloilo in this city tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 and that three midwives, a medical technologist and a nurse working under the local government unit of Alimodian, Iloilo also contracted the virus while working at the town’s quarantine facility.
Yesterday, DOH Region announced that a nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital of Iloilo also tested positive for the virus.
The hospital doctors and nurse are currently being quarantined at the hostel of St. Paul’s Hospital of Iloilo.
Nationwide as of June 22, 3,122 healthcare workers contracted the disease, 33 of which have died while 2,235 have recovered, according to the Alliance of Health Workers (AHW).
AHW said health workers should be looked after because without them, the country’s health system may collapse./PN
