SAN JOSE, Antique – The Integrated Provincial Health Office (IPHO) is urging the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to place the province under a state of calamity due to dengue.
IPHO chief Dr. Ric Noel Naciongayo said they need funds to purchase medicines, intravenous fluids, intravenous tubing, and other resources to be provided to the hospitals for the dengue patients.
“Our resources in the hospitals are already draining because of the dengue cases,” he said.
Naciongayo added they need at least P5 million from the calamity fund for the needed resources in hospitals.
On July 11, the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council recommended the amendment of the province’s state of calamity due to the El Niño to already include dengue.
However, the SP referred the proposed amendment to the SP committee on laws chaired by lawyer Emmanuel Palacios Jr. for further study and review.
Meanwhile, Naciongayo advised the public to destroy the breeding places of mosquitoes to prevent the further rise of dengue cases.
“As of July 20, there are 1,110 cases of dengue with seven deaths in the province that had been monitored,” Naciongayo said.
The figure from Jan. 1 to July 20 is 126 percent higher compared to last year’s 494 in the same period. (With a report from PNA/PN)
