PR
ILIGAN CITY – The National Task Force (NTF) Against COVID-19 on Friday said they are eyeing the establishment of One Hospital Command for Region 10 to ensure effective and efficient health facility referral for COVID-19 patients.
During the Coordinated Operations to Defeat Epidemic (CODE) Meeting here, NTF COVID-19 Chief Implementer Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. called for an executive conference with local chief executive and government agencies to maximize bed capacities in the region.
“Gagawa tayo ng One Hospital Command sa pamumuno ng ating Regional Director at ng Northern Mindanao Medical Center [We will put up One Hospital Command headed by our Regional Director and the Northern Mindanao Medical Center],” he said.
“Ang pinakaimportante po sa ating National Action Plan ay puwede tayong mag-angat para sa ekonomiya, puwede tayong magbukas for as long as we maintain yung zero deaths. Ang primary objective natin is makapag-save tayo ng lives at tsaka mababa ang death [The important point of our National Action Plan is to revive the economy. We can fully reopen as long as we maintain zero death. Our primary objective is to save lives and minimize incidence of death],” he added.
Iligan City was placed under the Modified Enhanced Community Quarantine (MECQ) until September 30 because of its increasing cases of infection.
Secretary Galvez discussed the thrusts of the implementation of the National Action Plan against COVID-19.
He also stressed the creation of an effective contact tracing team with the same mechanism employed by the city of Valenzuela where there is a systematized monitoring of its residents and patients.
Secretary Galvez told Iligan City officials to remove home quarantine as option to isolate asymptomatic patients as risk of spreading infection to other household members is prevalent.
“Yan po ang aming nakita sa Laguna. 70% ang naka-home quarantine. Ang nangyari sa Laguna, nag-spike ng napakalaki, ganun din ang Cebu [That’s what we saw in Laguna. 70% were home quarantined. So there was a big spike in the number of COVID-19 cases there. The same thing happened in Cebu],” he said.
“Kapag naka-home quarantine, hindi po natin sila nakikita. Hindi po 24 hours nakikita po natin yan [With home quarantine, we don’t see the patients. We don’t see them 24 hours],” he added.
As of September 3, Iligan City has 377 total confirmed cases, 34 of which are placed under home quarantine.
The NTF COVID-19 also allocated 2,000 test kits, 4,000 KN95 face masks, 2,000 N98 surgical masks, and 2,000 PPE for Iligan City.
“Ang importante, pangalagaan natin ang Iligan at Cagayan de Oro. Kasi ang Iligan at Cagayan de Oro, yan ang economic hub natin [It is important to protect Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, because these two are our economic hub],” Secretary Galvez said and reminded Iligan City Mayor Celso G. Regencia to impose strict measures for the business sector.
Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar also attended the meeting and detailed the initiatives undertaken by the national government and the persistent information drive by government media.
“As part of our tasks as a Cabinet official, we have been very engaged on-the-ground and grassroots levels in our respective region and provinces both as Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security (CORDS) and as Cabinet official tapped by COVID Task Force to share the best practices against COVID-19 and to provide stronger support to the local government units in terms of strict monitoring of health system performance, critical care capacity, and stringent compliance in surveillance, isolation, and treatment protocols,” he said.
Secretary Andanar is the designated Cabinet Officer for Regional Development and Security for Region 10 (CORDS X).
