- GILBERT BAYORAN
The number of acute gastroenteritis and amoebiasis cases in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental, was down to 55, as of Feb. 28, from its peak of 469, Joe Alingasa, head of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office, said.
Alingasa also said there are two confirmed fatalities.
Both the central and regional offices of the Department of Health have deployed 16 health personnel to San Carlos City to augment the City Health Office manpower, after Mayor Renato Gustilo placed San Carlos City under a “state of health emergency” since Feb. 22, due to surging cases of AGE and amoebiases, in the past one month.
Alingasa said the medical teams have been deployed to different areas of San Carlos, where there are many cases of gastroenteritis and amoebiasis, to determine the extent of contamination.
Of the remaining 55 active cases, Alingasa reported that three are being treated at the San Carlos Doctors’ Hospital and four at the San Carlos City Hospital, while the rest are home-managed.
He defended the decision of Gustilo to declare a state of health emergency, in coordination with the Provincial Health Office, which sent oral hygiene salts and hygiene kits to the city.
Under Republic Act 7160, or the Local Government Code, he stressed that “it is the responsibility of the mayor to implement an initial response”.
In declaring the state of health emergency, Gustilo cited the rising cases of patients admitted to the San Carlos City Hospital that were confirmed as amoebiasis cases, which surpassed the hospital’s bed capacity./GB
