About a dozen congressmen from regions affected by the dengue outbreak sought a private audience with Health Secretary Francisco Duque late Monday afternoon to discuss immediate and long-term solutions on the latest health emergency plaguing the country today.
Duque was invited to the House of Representatives by Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, whose province of Leyte was included in the list of areas that have already exceeded the alert threshold for dengue.
“The dengue scourge has affected region eight, particularly the Leyte and Samar provinces. We are very, very fortunate that Sec. Duque is here at the Office of House Majority Leader so we invited the members of the region eight bloc and as well as those from Iloilo and Zamboanga Sibugay where this scourge has also been very, very much felt,” said Romualdez.
“Sec. Duque has endeavored to support each and every congressman’s requirements to stave off the increase or the spike of the scourge not just through informative talks and discussions here, but with actual concrete initiatives to support in addressing the problem,” he added.
According to the House leader, Duque appreciated the congressmen’s invitation as this indicated that Congress is ready to join hands with the Department of Health (DoH) in addressing the dengue problem.
“Sec. Duque was candid enough. He needs the support of everyone since at the moment, there is no medicine effective to cure a viral disease such as dengue. Only through community effort can we win the war against dengue,” Romualdez said.
Duque, however, reportedly committed to download the soonest time possible all resources available from the DoH to the provinces so that dengue patients may get instant relief from the cost of hospitalization.
Duque advised congressmen to encourage local government units to enter into agreements with public and private hospitals in order to widen the reach of medical assistance provided by the health department.
Aside from financial support, the Health Secretary also committed to make available machines and chemicals needed by LGUs for mosquito fogging operations in their areas of jurisdiction.
“We agree with Sec. Duque. The best way to fight dengue is to search and destroy mosquito breeding places. At the forefront of this campaign is still the LGU,” Romualdez said.
“Since dengue has become a public health emergency, it behooves us to mobilize the public to help address the problem. Each and everyone must do their part,” the Leyte solon added.
Although the DoH declared a National Dengue Alert last July 15, Duque assured the congressmen that the number of dengue cases has been noted to be on a downward trend.
Earlier, the DoH announed that the following regions had exceeded the epidemic threshold: Mimaropa, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, and Northern Mindanao.
The following regions, meanwhile, have exceeded the alert threshold: Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, Calabarzon, Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Zamboanga Peninsula, Davao, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, and Cordillera Administrative Region.
The epidemic threshold is the critical number of cases required for an epidemic to be declared. The alert threshold, meanwhile, is the number of cases that sounds an early warning for a potential epidemic.
Romualdez said congressmen are now studying options on how to infuse more budgetary support to the DoH in order to help the department contain the epidemic and provide assistance to dengue patients.
“All the congressmen present agreed to help Sec. Duque get more budget for the anti-dengue campaign. Our health department deserves all the support from Congress if we are to win the war against dengue,” he added.
