BY ERWIN ‘AMBO’ DELILAN
AMID the daily hubbub brought about by the current pandemic, Bacolod City has one COVID-19 response initiative worthy of praise. This is the apartheid or system of segregation for pregnant Bacoleñas positive for COVID-19. They’re all housed at the Lopez Jaena Elementary School (LJES) in Barangay 38.
Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, chair of the city’s Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), said that starting Feb. 1 (this year), they made LJES an exclusive quarantine center for COVID-19 positive preggies.
“Because we want to give the preggies utmost care against the deadly virus,” declared Familiaran.
LJES was used to be the quarantine center for the city’s returning overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) late last year.
But noting that the number of COVID-19-positive preggies balloons faster, Familiaran stressed, they heeded the recommendation of the City Health Office (CHO) to look for a place solely for them.
LJES was a smart choice, he confided.
And to make the preggies’ journey safer while at LJES, CHO also assigned nurses and midwives to monitor 24/7 their condition.
The city also put up a complete delivery room within LJES meant for emergency purposes.
All rooms, Familiaran said, are equipped with an oxygen system.
COVID-19-positive Preggies, on the other hand, undergo daily monitoring of their blood pressure (BP), body temperature (BT) and oxygen level.
They were also being provided with free meals (3x/day), snacks, vitamins, medicines, hygiene kits, and linens.
On top of all these, they also submit themselves to a free weekly swab test as required by the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society (POGS).
And once they’re tested negative for COVID-19, they will be released immediately.
However, Familiaran said, the city’s One Hospital Command Referral Center (OHCRC) is also looking for an appropriate hospital once a preggy is up for delivery.
There are three hospitals in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental that accept COVID-19-positive preggies about to deliver. These include the Valladolid District Hospital in Valladolid town for normal delivery and St. Anne Hospital in Cadiz City and Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH) in Bacolod for complicated and caesarian section.
But the moment there’s no available space or vacancy in these three hospitals and someone is really up to give birth, except for complicated case(s), nurses and midwives on duty have no choice but to perform delivery right there at LJES.
As of this writing, Familiaran confided that, since February to date, LJES already housed a total of 200 COVID-19-positive preggies with 11 normal deliveries performed, and one fatality had been recorded.
Familiaran lamented though that the lone fatality had suffered from pulmonary embolism leading to cardiac arrest.
Such, explained by the vice mayor, was really beyond everyone’s control.
But he assured that aside from nurses and midwives on rotational duty, they also have highly-trained paramedics manning the ambulance, which is also on standby 24/7 at LJES.
Well, having this kind of initiative as one of the city’s responses to COVID-19 pandemic is really laudable. Imagine, the city is not just caring and saving the preggies, but also the innocent fetuses against the noxious effects of COVID-19.
It cannot be denied that, at the start of the pandemic early last year, the city officials “rattled”, causing them to be ridiculed and hated by the public.
Public uproar in Bacolod then was blown out of proportion, causing “sleepless” nights among the city’s top executives.
Alas, the city’s alleged sloppy responses and handling of the contagion also turned into a political issue.
Hence, many from all walks of life demanded for the city officials’ immediate resignation. But instead of succumbing to the public “cry”, they’ve composed themselves, collaborated and endured until they’ve “mastered” their acts. COVID-19 failed to “flatten” them. And with their “rising” from people’s blatant anger, they made one morally significant endeavor, which even the “heaven” is smiling right now.
In short, as if the city officials “ransomed” themselves from “drowning” in the quicksand of public opinion.
To be candid, I am a “news addict”. My day won’t be complete sans reading or watching news of all sorts either on television or cellphone. And I have never encountered this kind initiative.
Yes, other local government units (LGUs) around the country have their respective quarantine facilities for their COVID-19 positive. But they don’t have this kind of a set-up wherein the preggies COVID-19 positive were segregated in a certain place so to have focus on caring them. This is (really) unique and worthy of emulation by the other LGUs.
The IATF, too, must look into this matter, and maybe order other LGUS to adopt this one-of-a-kind COVID-19 response by Bacolod City. Because saving the preggies and their unborn babies from the ‘impishness” of the novel corona virus, perhaps, is a “heavenly act” precious of a “holy prize”.
Ergo, kudos to VM Familiaran and the rest of the “think-tanks” behind this praiseworthy initiative!/PN
