SAN JOSE, Antique – The Municipal Health Office (MHO) of Culasi town appealed to residents to clean their surroundings to get rid of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.
Municipal Health Officer Dr. Roselyn E. Babayen-on said residents must help them address the problem on dengue, citing that the municipality already recorded 106 cases of the deadly viral disease with four deaths from Jan. 1 to July 7 this year.
In the same period last year, the town recorded only 14 cases with no deaths.
“I am really asking for the cooperation of everyone,” Babayen-on said.
She added that cleaning the surroundings and constantly replacing the water in their containers for their household use could prevent dengue cases.
“Mosquitoes could transfer from one house to another so everyone should have to maintain cleanliness,” she said.
Due to the rising dengue cases, the Culasi Municipal Council declared a state of calamity on July 3.
“Since we are now under the state of calamity, we are able to utilize a portion of the municipal government’s calamity fund for the purchase of our needed hospital supplies,” Babayen-on said.
She added that their initial requested amount of P300,000 was for the purchase of dengue test kit and dextrose.
“The dengue test kit is expensive…The MHO is now providing them for free [for dengue patients],” Babayen-on said.
Aside from the hospital supplies, a vector control chemical that will be used in spraying was also purchased. It will be used in prioritized hot spot areas such as Centro Norte, Batbatan Island, Esperanza, Malacañang, Fe, Lipata, and Lamputong.
“There will be spraying that will be conducted within the week or whenever there will be fine weather,” said Babayen-on.
The youngest of the fourth deaths in Culasi was an eight-month-old baby girl from Barangay Mararison while the eldest was a nine-year-old girl from Barangay Cenro Norte. The two others were a seven-year-old girl from Barangay Naba and a six-year-old girl from Barangay Esperanza. (PNA/PN)
