BACOLOD City – The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology does not want inmates in its Barangay Singcang facility to get infected with measles.
They asked the City Health Office to conduct an immunization for measles among their detainees, said Chief Inspector Ruth Estales, Singcang District Jail warden.
A similar activity was held at the Handumanan District Jail on Wednesday after suspected measles was detected among the inmates.
Some visitors of the inmates in the Singcang jail were related to inmates in the Handumanan facility, Estales noted.
A measles vaccination at the Singcang jail will prevent the possible spread of the measles virus from one detention facility to another, she said.
Estales said the CHO has yet to respond to their request.
The BJMP has not detected any measles symptoms among Singcang inmates but the facility has two cases of chicken pox.
The detainees who have chicken pox have already been isolated, Estales said.
The Singcang District Jail currently houses 660 male inmates.
On Nov. 14 the CHO conducted a measles immunization among male and female inmates at the Handumanan jail.
Among male inmates, 25 had suspected measles and 13 had sore eyes, said the jail warden, Senior Inspector Norberto Miciano.
Those with suspected measles have been isolated while those who had sore eyes were receiving continuous treatment, he said.
Miciano said they sought help from the CHO when they learned that some of their inmates started having fever and skin rashes – which were “not normal” among the detainees.
Only 441 male inmates were vaccinated against measles-rubella on Wednesday, said Miciano. Those who were not inoculated at the time were either sick or in court hearings, he said.
Miciano said they will ask the CHO to conduct the immunization again if many more inmates would want to get vaccinated./PN
