By Zorayda Tecson / Philippine News Agency
ANGELES CITY, Pampanga – The Angeles city government is strictly implementing the “no home quarantine” policy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients to avoid transmission of the infection among members of households.
Dr. Froilan Canlas, chief of the Rafael Lazatin Memorial Medical Center (RLMMC), said on Wednesday (Sept. 22) that the city government previously allowed home quarantine but found it ineffective in curbing the contagion.
“That’s (home quarantine) what we have been doing. And it did not work. That’s why the City Health Office opted to do facility quarantine except for bedridden monitored by health workers from RLMMC,” he said.
Canlas said home quarantine is “like giving the patient a chance for 14 days to violate protocol. And they always do. It’s human nature”.
Likewise, he cited the inadequacy of facilities at home for isolation, including a comfort room for the exclusive use of COVID-19 patients, as stated in the protocol of the Department of Health (DOH).
To date, there are 480 isolation rooms for the use of patients in the city, of which 230 are allotted free for indigent Angeleños. The rooms come with air coolers and free meals.
The other 220 rooms are for those who want their rooms to be upgraded from standard, upon agreement to pay 50% of their quarantine accommodations. Nevertheless, meals are still provided for free.
Twenty rooms at the Mexico Isolation Facility have also been allotted by the provincial government of Pampanga for use by the city government, and another 10 at the National Government Administrative Center.
The RLMMC, meanwhile, installed a central nurses’ station at the Hotel America, one of the isolation facilities designated by the city government.
As of Sept. 21, the total number of active Covid-19 cases in the city is 1,943. (PNA) – bny
