PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan — Two members of the Batak indigenous peoples (IP) tribe in a remote village here were killed due to the diarrhea outbreak, a city health official confirmed Thursday.
Dr. Ricardo Panganiban, chief of the City Health Office (CHO), disclosed that the outbreak has affected more than half of the estimated 150 Batak residents at Sitio Kalakwasan, Barangay Tanabag, located north of Puerto Princesa.
He said the report was done by the health worker in the satellite clinic in Tanabag.
“The report came from our health worker in the satellite clinic. The first case was reported to us early last week, and then the number increased soon after,” he said.
On Monday, the CHO team went to the barangay to distribute water in containers, sodium hypochlorite (Waterine solution) to disinfect water, Oresols, and other antidiarrheal medications, he said.
“Today, we are going back to Kalakwasan to check on them again,” said Panganiban.
Although he is unable to say how many Batak IPs are confined in hospitals, Panganiban confirmed they have referred some cases for emergency attention.
“Only yesterday, we referred someone to be confined to the Ospital ng Palawan (ONP),” he said.
Those who were affected showed signs of abdominal cramps, fever, frequent and watery bowel movement, vomiting, and weight loss.
“They are experiencing this due to the presence of bacterial infection and parasitism,” added Panganiban.
There was a high probability, he said, that the diarrhea outbreak may have been caused by the contamination of the community’s water reservoir, which had broken PVC pipes and damaged lines.
“When we inspected, we noticed that some PVC pipes were broken, and down the tank, there were breaks too, in the lines, which may have been contaminated by animal wastes. We also saw that domesticated animals, like dogs and pigs, were just there near the water reservoir rambling about,” he disclosed.
An engineering team from the Puerto Princesa City Water District had already been dispatched to Sitio Kalakwasan to check on the water reservoir.
“The engineers from the water district are now there to fix the pipelines,” he said, adding barangay officials of Tanabag had been informed to monitor the water source and keep it safe from wandering animals and residents. (Celeste Anna Formoso/PNA)
