Gwen wants aggressive reporting of ILI, SARI cases; to set ‘quota’ for MHOs

Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The health offices in the towns and cities in Cebu province may soon need to meet a “quota” in their monitoring and reporting of the influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases in their locality.

Governor Gwendolyn Garcia said the measure is meant to promote a more aggressive reporting of the ILI and SARI cases in the local government units in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

Garcia said the Barangay Health Workers should be very adept in tracking the ILI and SARI cases in their communities since they are the ones on the ground.

With early reporting and monitoring of the ILI and SARI cases, Garcia said the health departments can come up with earlier interventions for the patients.

Influenza-like illnesses and SARI are common symptoms or manifestations of COVID-19 which primarily attacks the respiratory system.

This Thursday, April 30, 2020, Garcia will be meeting with the municipal and city health officers in the province to discuss the quota in the reporting and monitoring of ILI and SARI cases.

As of April 27, the Department of Health in Central Visayas reported a total of 346 SARI and 96 ILI admitted patients in Cebu province.

Some 267 persons with ILI, on the other hand, are also under home isolation.

“That is a prior warning ninyong tana nga dili na mahimo nga ang uban ninyo dili kaayo aggressive ang pag-report sa ILI cases. Mas importante nga samtang sayo pa, makahimo ta og early intervention,” Garcia said.

(That is a prior warning that we cannot tolerate that some of your are not aggressive enough in reporting ILI cases. It is more important that we come up with intervention measures early.)

Aside from the reporting of cases, Garcia said the meeting with the MHOs and CHOs will also tackle on the guidelines in conducting the targeted massive testing that the Capitol will soon undertake.

The Capitol earlier announced that the planned purchase of 50,000 rapid test kits for the massive testing.

Garcia said the percentage of the test subjects per municipality will be dependent on the population density, movement of people and other factors that will be determined by a group of medical experts from the University of the Philippines who have extended help to the province. /rcg