ILOILO – The Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) is pressing for a declaration of a state of calamity so that the provincial government’s calamity fund could be used to address the dengue outbreak.
Almost half of patients admitted in 12 provincial government-run hospitals have dengue, data from the capitol’s Hospital Management Office (HMO) showed.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Jr. said the provincial government will be hiring 18 doctors, 51 nurses, 21 medical technologists, 27 nursing attendants, and 34 hospital utility workers.
Their salaries will be sourced from the savings of the 12 district hospitals.
“(But) we have to prepare for the next source (of the fund) that is why we need to declare a state of calamity,” said Defensor after the meeting of the PDRRMC.
Iloilo’s 11 district hospitals and one provincial hospital have a combined authorized bed capacity of 615 but HMO data as of yesterday showed 2,174 patients confined in them. Of these, 1,051 were dengue cases.
In declaring a state of calamity, the revised guidelines issued by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council would be followed, he added.
One of the criteria for the declaration is “when there is an extremely high incidence of a certain disease whether communicable or non-communicable within a community, in a specific period of time, specific health-related behavior, or other health-related events clearly beyond normal expectancy.”
The PDRRMC resolution recommending a declaration of a state of calamity would be submitted to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan that is expected to tackle it during its regular session Tuesday next week, July 23.
“We will request for a special session if needed,” said Defensor.
The Provincial Health Office recorded from Jan. 1 to July 6 5,435 dengue cases with 20 deaths. These figures were 901 percent higher than the 543 cases with three deaths recorded in the same period last year.
Defensor declared a dengue outbreak on July 5. On Monday, the Department of Health declared a region-wide outbreak. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
