ILOILO CITY — Dengue fast lanes in all 12 government-run hospitals in the province of Iloilo have been activated to ensure that all dengue cases are properly attended to.
Provincial Administrator Raul Banias, also the chief of the Hospital Management Office (HMO), told reporters on Thursday that he already directed all the district hospitals, through a memorandum order, to make sure that their fast lanes for dengue patients are activated. The order was released last Tuesday, he said.
Banias said the order was in response to the letter of Marlyn Convocar, Regional Director of the Department of Health in Western Visayas (DOH-6), reiterating the need for the reactivation of the fast lanes.
“Actually, even before the directive of the DOH, we automatically activate our fast lanes during dengue season,” he said.
Banias also assured that hospitals were reminded to provide the patients with free hospitalization within the limit of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth).
Based on the copy of the letter, Convocar said there has been an increasing number of dengue cases and reports of incidence of deaths throughout the region.
Data from the Regional Epidemiological and Surveillance Unit showed that Western Visayas has a total of 5,056 dengue cases from January 1 until July 28 this year with 36 deaths.
In a previous interview with Provincial Health Officer Dr. Maria Socorro Quiñon, four dengue patients died in Iloilo Province from January 1 to July 28 this year, two of them are children aged four and six, while two others were teenagers, aged 16 and 18.
She said the fatalities are part of the 735 suspected dengue cases in the province as of July 28, which higher by 58 percent compared to the 465 cases recorded on the same period last year.
Aside from dengue, Quiñon reported the spread of chikungunya in the province with 104 cases, also as of July 28.
The public are advised to search and destroy the breeding places of the vectors, as well as conduct residual spraying weekly or discriminate fogging if available, perform larvicide operations, and other methods of environmental management to lower the mosquito population. (Cindy Ferrer/PNA)
