A team from the Department of Health in Western Visayas tested through water sampling the different water sources in San Carlos City March 2.
These include the Bodiawe Spring Station 1 of Barangay Punao, which distributes water in barangays 1 to 6, San Juan, and Ermita in Sipaway Island; the Sitio Mabulao Reservoir and water refilling stations in Barangay Bagonbon; the Baticulan Well Station; the Pump 4 well station in Brgy. Palampas; and the Sitio Medina Brgy. Rizal Water Treatment Facility.
Engr. Joemer Fayo, Infectious Disease, Environmental and Occupational Health section chief, said in a city press release Friday that although chlorine residual is present in water from the tested sources still, there is a need to increase the chlorine level for consumers to have a safer drinking supply.
City Health Office Sanitation Inspector 4 Eliakim Lasco added that 25 cups of chlorine are recommended to be added, especially that amoebiasis and acute gastroenteritis cases are present in the city.
Water from faucets in sitios Mahayahay and Maloloy-on in Brgy. Punao was also tested, and results are underway, the city said.
With Fayo and Lasco during the series of testing were Trina Ysabel Maguillo and Nitz Marie Villaluna of the DOH Region 6, as well as City Waterworks Department representatives.
Representatives from the DOH Central Office also arrived in San Carlos City March 2 to conduct an in-depth analysis of the cause of amoebiasis cases.
Dr. Ida Gloria Felix, DOH-Field Epidemiology Training Program Team head, with Dr. Ian Gonzales, statistician III Kenn Manuel Palmares III, senior health program officer Argel Andan, health program officer II Joelean Zephani Escofe, and supervising health program officer Francis Michael Torreblanca, accompanied by representatives of the Negros Occidental Provincial Health Office, and Dr. Arniel Lawrence Portuguez and Rowena Sabangan of the City Health Office paid a courtesy call on Mayor Renato Gustilo.
Felix said the analysis will give the city targeted and directed actions, and not general control measures.
She emphasized that they are not questioning Mayor Gustilo on his declaration of a state of health emergency since it’s within his means as local chief executive. She said they will be verifying the data and establishing a timeline of events.
Gonzales also said that visiting the city will give them an idea of what other assistance the DOH Central Office can provide, aside from the in-depth analysis.
Gustilo admitted that there were lapses but what is more important is the collaborative work to be done to solve the problem of amoebiasis in the city, which was agreed upon by City Administrator Atty. Estefanio Libutan Jr.
The mayor directed representatives of the City Waterworks Department to assist the DOH Central Office and present the data on water sampling. ||
