Provincial hospitals of Davao del Norte have amply stored oxygen to serve COVID-19 patients, Provincial Health Officer said.
As guest of One Davao Presser, Dr. Alfredo Lacerona of PHO Davao del Norte said PLGU hospitals had reserved about 5,000 tanks of oxygen, a supply which had been running out in tertiary and in some private hospitals.
“Ang oxygen nga maoy nangahurot sa ubang hospital, naka reserve ta ug enough number. (The oxygen that runs out in other hospitals, we have reserved enough number.),” he said. “So far nagadawat na man ta ug severe covid cases sa atong mga provincial hospitals. (We have so far accept severe COVID cases in our provincial hospitals.),”he said.
Dr. Lacerona was responding to the call of Tagum City-based Davao Regional Medical Center (DRMC) which had advised the public “to seek medical attention at the nearest Local Government Unit healthcare facility.”
DRMC recently conveyed public regrets that “it is experiencing shortage of medical oxygen supply”. Its management, however, assured that those “referred requiring supplemental oxygen will be assisted for admission to other facilities”.
In relation to this situation of DRMC, Dr. Lacerona revealed instructions of Provincial Governor Edwin I. Jubahib “to accommodate up to moderate” cases of COVID-19.
However, Dr. Lacerona said the “provincial hospitals are getting near their full capacity levels” due to surge in COVID-19 positive cases in Davao del Norte.
Citing week-on-week logged COVID-19 positive cases, Dr. Lacerona said that PHO registered in the last week of August a total of only 352. A week after, cases went up a total of 408; then spiked at 697 the following week, and surged to 868 just recently.
“Ingon ana ka-paspas ang pagsaka; among tan-aw tungod na jud ni sa atong delta variant. (That is how fast the rise in number of cases. We look at this as due to Delta variant cases.),” he said.
Dr. Lacerona revealed that Davao del Norte now has eight total cases of COVID-19 Delta Variant with the five newly reported by DOH found in Tagum City.
In the afternoon of September 08, PHO Davao del Norte registered 203 new confirmed cases bringing to a total of 1,669 total active cases.
PHO Davao del Norte has been registering more than 100 cases of COVID-19 cases since the first week of September with September 1 and September 7 as exemptions during which only 79 and 96 COVID-19 cases were recorded.
Despite the challenge, Dr. Lacerona noted well the active involvement of local chief executives in deploying its Barangay Health Emergency Response Teams (BHERTs) to trace COVID-19 patients and to monitor those at home isolation. (Jeanevive Duron Abangan, PIA XI)
