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.