DOH-7’s Health Emergency Management Staff (HEMS) coordinator Dr. Shelbay Blanco speaks to reporters about updates on the measles outbreak in the region. CDN Digital photo | Futch Anthony Inso
Cebu City, Philippines – The Department of Health in Central Visayas (DOH-7) is considering the proposal of the Cebu City Government to put up measles vaccination posts in different malls in Cebu City.
DOH-7’s Health Emergency Management Staff (HEMS) coordinator Dr. Shelbay Blanco said that they are looking into the proposal as it can help attract more parents, who they hope they can convince to submit their children for vaccination.
“Ato sa’ng i-commend ang ubang LGUs (Local Government Units) sa pag-initiate og mga action. Naa tay nadawat nga request nga magpatabang sila sa mga malls to put up a vaccination post sa malls,” DOH-7’s Health Emergency Management Staff (HEMS) coordinator Dr. Shelbay Blanco said.
Blanco, however, told reporters that they are still waiting for the term and conditions of the said proposal, since this is the first time that an LGU made such request.
“Hopefully with the increasing number of cases, maka install rata og post,” he added.
Based on the monitoring of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit (RESU)-7, from January 1 to February 19, 2019, the total deaths from measles cases climbed to four since an outbreak was declared by the agency. All of them are from the province of Cebu.
The latest fatality is an eight-month-old boy from Carcar City who died due to pneumonia, a complication from measles.
“Pero kani siya nga kaso, namatay siya pag January 30, unya nakuhaan siya ug laboratory sa dugo. Unya karon nadawat nato ang result and tested positive siya for measles mao nga karon pa siya na-report,” he said.
The agency has also reported a total of 316 cases, which is 1,217 percent higher compared to 24 cases in the same period last year.
Cebu got the highest number of measles cases in the region with 222 cases, followed by Negros Oriental (72), Bohol (20) and Siquijor (2).
Blanco said that they will also be deploying nurses, allied medical personnel and midwives to different LGUs with reported cases of measles in order to assist them with their initiatives and interventions.
“But we will give priority to areas nga tag-as ang kaso (sa measles),” Blanco explained.
This year, DOH-7 is targeting 371,197 individuals to be vaccinated. But as of the moment, they were only able to immunize 10,577 individuals. /bmjo