ILOILO City – This city needs more medical personnel and equipment as rising cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) threaten to overwhelm the local health system. In a letter to the Department of Health (DOH) central office, Mayor Jerry Treñas appealed for assistance.
COVID-19 patients were outnumbering healthcare workers; some medical facilities have become understaffed, according to the mayor.
As of yesterday, Iloilo City’s active COVID-19 cases hit 1,155, data from DOH Region 6 showed. It’s death toll also rose to 198.
“The surge we are facing now necessitates a greater demand for supplies,” added Treñas.
He asked for additional ventilators, oxygen tanks and ancillary equipment, test kits and personal protective equipment.
Treñas also urged DOH to also order accredited hospitals to increase their COVID-19 bed capacities, and particularly cited the Western Visayas Sanitarium in Santa Barbara, Iloilo which he said has ample space.
But for the hospitals to do this, Treñas said the states-owned Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) must their unpaid claims that have reached nearly P900 million.
The city mayor also appealed for more COVID-19 vaccines.
As of May 17, the combined doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca vaccines delivered to Iloilo City reached 33,472.
A total of 31,036 doses have so far been administered, for a vaccination rate of 92.72 percent.
Treñas the other day pressed for the vaccination of the city’s “general population”. All those who wanted to be vaccinated should be allowed to get the jabs, notwithstanding the prioritization framework or group classification for vaccination, he stressed.
MASS TESTING
Meanwhile, 49 city government employees turned out positive for COVID-19 in the ongoing mass testing of the city hall work force which started on May 24.
According to Treñas, citing the report of the Iloilo City COVID Extraction Team, 897 employees so far yielded negative results.
The city mayor called on these cleared employees “to return to work so that we can continue serving our people.”
“Para indi tanto ma delay ang aton obra,” Treñas told Panay News.
The City Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit has yet to release the list of which departments or offices the COVID-positive employees belonged to.
The city hall was closed down for a week since Monday to give way to the mass testing of employees and decontamination./PN
