DOH hands over dental health bus to Ormoc

Fr. Reynan Ilustrisimo, accompanied by outgoing Mayor Edward C. Codilla, blesses the new mobile dental clinic.

THE Department of Health (DOH) turned over a mobile dental clinic (MDC) to enable the City Health Department (CHD) to provide dental services to depressed areas. Manufactured in China, the airconditioned six-wheeler coaster was customized into a clinic equipped with two dental chairs, lavatory, hand instruments and other equipment.

Ormoc is reportedly included in the 100 localities provided with the MDC worth P3,950,000 each as part of the Health Facility Enhancement Program of DOH. Other places in Eastern Visayas that received the dental bus are Northern Samar and Biliran provinces, Palo town, and the cities of Tacloban, Baybay and Maasin.

Dr. Donabel B. Lago, coordinator of CHD’s Dental Health Program said the MDC will prove useful during medical missions and the barangay visits of the mayor except in hard-to-reach areas. Aside from the dental bus, the DOH also turned over 25 wheelchairs worth P3,225 each or a total of P80,639.75.

Outgoing Mayor Edward C. Codilla, outgoing city administrator Francis Pepito and outgoing secretary to the mayor Gaudioso Y. Ypanto pose with the CHD medical team inside the medical bus.

Ormoc has best rabies control program in Region 8

Ormoc has been a consistent awardee of DOH for being
the best performing local government in rabies control
program in Eastern Visayas from 2010 to 2015.

THE City Health Office (CHO) here has treated 631 dog bite victims this year as of Apr. 26. Of this number, 539 were given post exposure treatment (PET) and 92 administered with rabies immunoglobulin (RIG). Last year, CHO treated 1,905 victims, 1,663 of which were given PET and 157 with RIG.

Rabies Control Program coordinator Elsie Jaca provided these figures to debunk claims that the CHO doesn’t have anti-rabies vaccines to give to dog bite victims. She admitted though that the vaccines are limited and patients are urged to purchase their own when supply runs out.

The people should know that Ormoc CHO is an Animal Bite Treatment Center (ABTC), Jaca said. The Department of Health (DOH) chose Ormoc as ABTC considering it is the only local government unit (LGU) in Region 8 and one of the few LGUs in the Visayas that has its own annual operational plan and regular budget on rabies control.

This is complemented by the dog vaccination program of the City Veterinary Office. Last year, the City Vet vaccinated 23,007 canines. As of Mar. 31 this year, it has vaccinated 8,592 dogs. These best practices made the Ormoc LGU a consistent best performer in DOH’s rabies control program.

Unlike Tacloban which has five ABTCs (located at its City Health Unit, City Hospital, Leyte Provincial Hospital, Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center and Divine Word Hospital), Ormoc’s ABTC is a stand-alone that caters not only to Ormocanons but to people from the entire Leyte west coast as well.

Last year, 20% or 392 of the 1,951 patients served by the Ormoc ABTC came from other towns. As of Apr. 26 this year, 14% or 90 of the 629 patients are non-Ormocanons. Even medical personnel from Baybay City come here to seek treatment while residents of Maasin, Southern Leyte run to Ormoc when its ABTC there runs out of vaccines.

Jaca says this is one of the reasons why Ormoc ABTC’s vaccines are depleted. In 2015 for instance, they had 650 vials of Verorub vaccine (600 bought by the LGU for P1,050,000 good for two quarters and 50 from DOH). In the first quarter alone however, there were 379 Ormocanon patients that required 758 vials (considering that one patient needs two vials of Verorub). This rendered the supply short of 108 vials, forcing 54 patients to buy their own medicines.

Ormoc ABTC also had 25 vials of Rabipur that same quarter good for 25 patients. However, there were 74 patients from other places, forcing 49 of them to buy their own medicines. It is easy to tell the LGU to increase allocation for the program, but the truth is that the vaccines don’t come cheap, Jaca points out.

Treatment for a category 1 or simple bite costs P500-1,000. A category 2 bite (wherein blood oozes out) costs P3,000-5,000. For category 3 (head or neck bite), treatment could fetch P12,000-30,000. If all the 1,951 patients served by Ormoc ABTC last year happened to fall under category 3, the LGU will have to spend P23,412,000 for their treatment.

Such allocation will jeopardize all the other health programs of CHO. As it is, the Rabies Control Program receives the 6^th biggest amount from among the 20 programs of CHO after immunization, acute respiratory infection, dental and nutrition. Its P1,432,000 budget this year represents 8% of the P19,537,500 allocated to all 20 programs.

Village chiefs push probe on ‘ghost’ aid for typhoon victims

A GROUP of barangay chairmen trooped to the City Hall on Apr. 25 to deliver a petition urging the 13^th Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) to conduct an investigation regarding the failed distribution of construction materials promised to their constituents allegedly by the National Housing Authority (NHA).

The offer for the construction materials came weeks after super typhoon Yolanda devastated Eastern Visayas including Ormoc. According to Ramon Conopio, village chief of San Jose, some barangay campaign coordinators identified with Rep. Lucy Marie Torres-Gomez went from house to house urging families to fill up a form.

“The said groups, who were allegedly representing Congresswoman Lucy Gomez and her husband Richard Gomez, claimed that the said assistance is already ready for distribution and disseminated two forms to be hurriedly filled up by our constituents as a precondition for the release of the assistance,” the petition reads.

The two-page form, carrying the heading “Serbisyong Gomez sa Ormoc NHA Housing Beneficiary” and bearing the “Seribisyong Gomez” logo, instructed the applicants to list down materials needed for housing repair except cement worth not exceeding P5,000 per household.

Conopio said he and his constituents filled up the form considering they were desperate for assistance that time. He also learned that the same was done in other barangays. It has been more than two years and the thousands who filled up the forms haven’t heard of the offered assistance since then.

The matter has also been a subject of news reports and discussions in radio broadcasts but the Gomez camp has been mum about the issue. The barangay officials are concerned that the filled up forms bearing the applicants’ personal and family details, pictures and signatures might be used for illegal and anomalous purposes.

“We are begging the City Council to conduct an immediate investigation of the aforesaid matter and determine the responsible people behind this orchestrated deception against our constituents and secure back the forms that they have filled up,” the petition, signed by 72 barangay chairmen, concludes.

GIDUWAAN SA YAWA? Ramon Conopio, barangay chairman of San Jose, submits to the 13th Sangguniang Panlungsod their petition seeking an investigation on the undelivered construction materials promised by campaign coordinators identified with Rep. Lucy Marie Torres-Gomez after super typhoon Yolanda.

872 indigent senior citizens receive P1.3M social pension

THE City Treasurer’s Office has concluded the release of social pension for indigent senior citizens. The benefit covers the second quarter of 2015 but the implementing office, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), downloaded the amount only on the first quarter of 2016.

DSWD allocated a total of P1,650,000 for 1,100 beneficiaries aged 80 years old and above identified by the National Housing Targeting System. Each beneficiary received P1,500 stipend to augment the daily subsistence and other medical needs of members from the aforementioned vulnerable sector.

However, only 872 beneficiaries claimed the benefit worth P1.3 million, leaving P342,000 unclaimed by 228 senior citizens who are believed to have been deceased. Except for the deceased, those already part of the list will be entitled to future pensions in succeeding years.