MANILA — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is coordinating with the Department of Health (DOH) in setting up first aid stations in polling centers across the country when voters choose their barangay and youth leaders on Monday.
“Not all voting centers will be covered, but they (DOH) will be in the majority of them,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said in an interview Thursday.
The first aid stations will be established under a memorandum of agreement (MOA), Jimenez said.
In the 2016 national and local polls, the health department put up a total of 2,358 health desks in voting centers nationwide, each of which was manned by five health workers from regional health offices.
Meanwhile, Jimenez encouraged voters to bring water and other things that would protect them from extreme heat on election day.
“Our advice to the people: put sunscreen. This is so that you are prepared to be under the heat of the sun when you are lining up to vote,” he said.
“Bring water because dehydration, especially in the summer months, is a very real possibility,” he added.
Majority of the 177,575 polling precincts in the 36,781 voting centers or public school classrooms nationwide are only equipped with electric fans while some have no proper ventilation. (PNA)
