- MITCH M. LIPA
The Bacolod Emergency Operations Center is eyeing the resumption of checkpoints in the city’s borders with Talisay, Bago, and Murcia to control the entry of people and arrest the spread of the coronavirus.
Dr. Chris Sorongon, EOC deputy director for Medical Data Analysis, said this could be their next step if the Commission on Elections refuses to heed their request to cancel the satellite registration scheduled in malls.
He said the EOC monitored that most of the new COVID cases in Bacolod have history of visiting the malls or have lined up for Comelec registration.
The EOC sent a letter to Comelec Bacolod Sept. 17, and requested that it cancels the scheduled satellite registrations up to the end of this month since this has been observed as one of the spreaders of the virus because Comelec lacks personnel to manage the crowd, Sorongon added.
Atty. Fatima Aspan, the acting Bacolod election officer, said that as per advice of their regional office, they will continue the satellite registration to accommodate registrants for the 2022 elections.
Aspan said that, according to the Comelec Regional Office, Iloilo City has a higher quarantine status than that of Bacolod, but the former continued to hold satellite registrations.
Meanwhile, the EOC is planning to convert the 64-room midway facility in Barangay Alijis into a field hospital for patients, since most COVID beds in private hospitals in Bacolod are full.
Sorongon said they also designated the Graciano Lopez Jaena quarantine facility as field hospital for pregnant COVID patients. There is a standby OB doctor in the area to assist in case a patient gives birth.
Aside from looking for more rooms to be converted as field hospitals, the EOC is also securing enough medical oxygen supply.
EOC executive director Em Ang said they have started negotiating with a supplier in Cebu to deliver enough supply in Bacolod as there is a need to have a buffer stock in the different medical facilities. – MML
