By Nanette Guadalquiver/Philippine News Agency
BACOLOD CITY — The City Health Office (CHO) has deployed 12 nurses to Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) here to augment response to dengue patients.
Dr. Ma. Carmela Gensoli, city health officer, said the nurses reported to the hospital starting Monday to help monitor pediatric patients.
She noted that although the 12 are assigned only temporarily, three more will be deployed for longer assignment at CLMMRH beginning Aug. 1.
The CHO already has five nurses and a radiology technologist at the CLMMRH, which is the only Department of Health (DOH) hospital in Negros Island.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia directed the CHO to augment the nursing personnel at the hospital as he appealed to residents of Bacolod to treat dengue seriously.
Cases in Bacolod have reached close to 600 since the start of the year, indicating an increase of about 67 percent compared to the figures in 2018.
“We must not let our guards down,” the mayor said.
Leonardia also urged barangay and school officials to step up their campaign against dengue by regularly cleaning their surroundings.
Barangay officials should use their funds for “clean and green” program in dengue prevention as this also involves health and sanitation, he added.
In Negros Occidental, the Provincial Health Office has recommended the declaration of a dengue outbreak in five local government units, including Bago City, located next to Bacolod to the south, and Murcia town, which is adjacent to Bacolod to the east.
The three others are Kabankalan City and the towns of Cauayan and Candoni.
There were 490 recorded cases in Kabankalan, while Bago has listed 285, with one death. Cauayan has 228 cases, with two deaths; Murcia, 147, with one death; and Candoni 135, with two deaths.
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