ILOILO City – Department of Health (DOH) Region 6 director Dr. Marlyn Convocar is no longer overseeing the Western Visayas response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak.
That task has been transferred to the director of DOH Central Visayas, Jaime Bernadas.
Convocar would just be managing the regular operations of DOH-6.
The order assigning Bernadas to handle the WV COVID response was issued by DOH undersecretary Adbullah B. Dumama Jr. It was released yesterday afternoon after DOH-6 came under fire for summarily classifying all residents of Guimbal, Iloilo as persons under monitoring (PUMs) following the confirmation of a local COVID-19 transmission in the town.
Yesterday morning, former Health secretary Janette Garin, a resident of Guimbal and now congresswoman of Iloilo’s 1st District, criticized Convocar for being “lazy and incompetent” in as far as DOH-6 management and response to COVID-19 concerns in the region.
“Sobra ka pigaw. There is no system, there is incompetence in that office,” said Garin in a radio interview.
Convocar could not be reached for comment as this was being written. On Wednesday night, she backtracked from the earlier pronouncement that Guimbal residents were PUMs.
In tasking Bernadas to handle the Region 6 COVID-19 response, Dumama’s order (Department Personnel Order No. 23) stated: “(W)hile in the critical times of national health emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, it is vital to maintain harmonious partnership with local government units/local chief executives and other stakeholders that play vital roles in this emergency situation.”
Dumama made no mention of DOH-6’s flubbing of the Guimbal COVID-19 situation but stressed the need to “maintain efficient and effective regional management operations.”
According to Dumama, Bernadas “shall attend and address the various external concerns of local chief executives and all other stakeholders of Region 6” on the COVID-19 public health emergency.
The undersecretary called this arrangement “twinning” between the DOH regional offices of Western Visayas and Central Visayas.
Dumama further underscored the need to define roles and responsibilities in this twinning arrangement to ensure efficient response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
All other issues and concerns beyond the scope of his order, according to Dumama, shall be elevated to the DOH Field Implementation and Coordination Team Visayas and Mindanao Cluster.
According to
Garin, DOH-6’s classifying the people of Guimbal as PUMs caused
confusion and worse, discrimination.
“PUM means wara ikaw sintomas pero may
direct contact ikaw sa positibo nga
pasyente or may travel history ikaw
sa mga countries nga gin-declare sang World Health Organization nga
may local transmission pareho ka Italy, Europe, US. Ang iban na ya kon naghalin sa Pilipinas,
they will be considered kon didto sa ila
kay ang basehan na ‘ya ang country,” Garin further explained.
Garin also co-chairs the House of
Representatives’ Committee of Health on COVID Response Team.
The committee’s function, among others, is to submit proposals to the
Inter-Agency Task Force on COVID, the national government body leading the
response to the pandemic.
“Pero
dara man rigya ang mga kaangot nga problema hasta sa lokal, labi na gid ang mga
imaw ta sa Visayas and Mindanao,” said Garin.
The challenge posed by the outbreak goes beyond health, she stressed.
“May ara kita problema on food security, pigado ang mga tawo, mahal ang baraklon…seguro nakita man sang DOH central office and the inter-agency task force…ang mga areas nga ti kinanglan ron magbinuligay ilabi na nga nagalapad ang COVID-19. So may ara twinning arrangement,” Garin explained./PN