SAN JOSE, Antique – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Antique passed a resolution requesting for a P13-million fund from the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to purchase a multi-purpose vehicle to be used as mobile clinic for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing and other medical services.
“Antique was recently identified as a high-risk area for COVID-19. The province recorded local transmission of several variants, including the highly transmissible Delta,” stated the resolution sponsored by Board Member Karmila Rose Dimamay.
The financial assistance could benefit residents of 10 towns in the northern part of Antique as medical facilities are mostly located in the province’s capital town of San Jose in the south.
The towns in the north were Patnongon, Barbaza, Bugasong, Caluya, Culasi, Laua-an, Libertad, Pandan, Sebaste, and Tibiao.
“Providing essential health services, particularly during this pandemic, is quite challenging,” Dimamay said.
The island municipality of Caluya, the farthest northern municipality, is about 23.06 nautical miles from the port of the municipality of Libertad.
From the port, residents need to travel by land to San Jose, which is another 149.98 kilometers away.
The difficulty to travel considering the distance makes it difficult for some residents to get medical attention as the province’s primary COVID-19 referral hospital, Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital (ASMGH), is located in the capital town.
Antique’s stationery bio-molecular laboratory is also situated beside the ASMGH.
“There are residents in northern Antique who, although they show COVID-19 igns and symptoms, had not been tested,” according to Dimamay. (PNA)
