BATAC CITY – The Mariano Marcos Memorial Hospital and Medical Center (MMMH&MC) here is currently on “Code Blue Alert” as Typhoon Ompong wreaks havoc in the country, mostly in Northern Luzon.
Under the Department of Health (DOH) code alert system, a Code Blue Alert means that 50 percent of all hospital personnel shall report for duty to render medical and other services.
“White Code Alert” level was hoisted last Sept. 12 when the provincial government of Ilocos Norte declared cancellation of work and classes in public and private sectors but it was raised to Code Blue Alert as Ompong is expected to intensify as super typhoon.
DOH-1 (Ilocos) issued Memorandum No. 2018-083 ordering all chiefs of DOH-retained hospitals, which include MMMH&MC, health emergency management staff (HEMS) of the region, all provincial health team leaders, DOH representatives and development management officer “to be on alert for 24-hour monitoring of the said disaster and for possible deployment in case any untoward incident arises.”
Convening an emergency meeting in preparation for the typhoon, Dr. Romel Rasos of MMMH&MC’s HEMS team, warned the hospital personnel that “Ompong” is akin to Super Typhoon Yolanda in terms of recorded maximum wind and gustiness as it destroyed massive properties and claimed thousands of lives in most parts of the Visayas in 2013.
He urged all concerned hospital personnel “to be prepared in order to sustain the operations of the medical center during the anticipated disaster.”
Rasos ordered that sufficient amount of food supplies should be prepared for the patients and hospital personnel who shall be rendering disaster duties in the next three days.
The emergency meeting also raised the importance of carefully strategizing the schedule of duty of nurses, doctors, and other health personnel vital to disaster operation to ensure that the Hospital has enough manpower.
The emergency meeting also identified that PHP 348,000 and a petty cash fund of PHP50,000 shall be utilized during the anticipated disaster.
Necessary drugs and medicines for the upcoming days were also inventoried and set aside and that the MMMH&MC has adequate supplies of oxygen for its patients.
The HEMS team of MMMH&MC also listed possible areas for evacuation in case there is an upsurge of patient during the typhoon onslaught: Annex Building-5th Floor Function Hall, MMMH&MC Board Room, 6th Floor Diagnostic and Laboratory Building, Mini-conference Room at the 5th Floor of the Diagnostic and Laboratory Building, and the Hospital Covered Court. (Michael Mugas/PNA)
