BY MAE SINGUAY
BACOLOD City – A 45-year-old nurse who died of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia had been buried.
Ma. Gemma Oplas, a resident of Cadiz Heights Subdivision, Cadiz City in Negros Occidental, contracted MERS-CoV at the King Fahad hospital in Riyadh this April 30. She died on May 6.
MERS-CoV is a viral respiratory disease first reported in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It has flu-like symptoms and has no cure yet.
Oplas contracted the illness from patients with MERS-CoV confined at King Fahad hospital where she was working.
It took four months to repatriate Oplas’ body. It reached Manila around noon on Sept. 3 and was immediately flown to Negros Occidental.
From the Bacolod-Silay Airport in Silay City, the Rolling Hills Funeral Homes brought Oplas direct to the Rolling Hills Memorial Park for interment.
Oplas had been working in Saudi Arabia since April 2005, said her husband Bonifacio, an engineer at the Cadiz City government.
Oplas and her husband have a 13-year old child.
As of July 23, 837 laboratory-confirmed cases including 291 deaths have been reported to the World Health Organization.
The Department of Health (DOH) has vowed to reinforcing efforts to detect MERS-CoV and other diseases at airports.
Aside from having more medical personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, authorities are also planning to purchase new thermal scanners to replace the old units.
Thermal scanners can detect if a person has fever – one of the symptoms of MERS-CoV.
On Wednesday, DOH started tracing and contacting passengers who were on the same flights with a 37-year-old Filipina nurse who tested positive for MERS-CoV.
“If they are one of those who boarded that plane, they should submit a laboratory check up for MERS-CoV,” Bureau of Quarantine director, Dr. Emmanuel Labella said.
The nurse came home to the Philippines via Saudi Airlines Friday last week./PN
