Palarong Pambansa 2024: Dengue fever sidelines 2 athletes

By: Niña Mae C. Oliverio - 5 months ago

INQUIRER.NET FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Two student athletes, who will be participating in the Palarong Pambansa 2024, were confirmed of having dengue fever.

Dr. Peter Mancao, chief of Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC), told reporters on Monday, July 8, that the patients were already admitted at the CCMC since Friday.

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Mancao said that the patients were rushed to the CCMC last week when they just arrived in Cebu City. However, he was unable to specify the exact date.

One of the patients was from Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), while the other was still being confirmed by Mancao as of press time. He also could not confirm yet what sports discipline these patients would participate.

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“Pero one thing common is bag-o lang sila nangabot. Kaning usa nagfever na daan before kuno nilakaw unya naabot dire,” Mancao said.

(But one thing they have in common is that they just arrived here. One of them had already a fever before he left and arrived here.)

Mancao assured that the patients’ conditions were “stable.”

Moreover, as of this writing, Mancao said that he would be meeting with other health officials and event’s committee for a meeting today, especially to check if there would be suspected cases of dengue.

With the current situation, Mancao assured that the CCMC would be ready and prepared to provide medical assistance and care for all the delegates of the Palarong Pambansa.

Furthermore, he said that the health officials would only allow “fully recovered” patients to participate in the Palaro.

“Og maluya-luya pa, dili pa pwede,” Mancao said.

(If the athlete would still be weak, then we would not allow him or her to participate in the games.)

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Meanwhile, Acting Cebu City Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia in a press conference on the same day, said that the CCMC had already allocated a “separate area” in the hospital for Palaro athletes.

“We are very prepared. Madengue man, mapiang man, mabali man, unsa pa na diha, we are very much prepared so far as CCMC,” Garcia said.

(We are very prepared. Whether it be dengue, a sprain, a fracture, or whatever ailments the athletes would suffer, we are very much prepared so far as CCMC.)

“Pero ang mga private hospitals, I [was] told by them, wala pa man sad ko kabisita, they are also very much prepared. So, we are very much prepared for any eventuality when it comes to Palaro and God willing di gyud na mahitabo,” he said.

(But the private hospitals, I [was] told by them, but I have not visited them yet, they are also very much prepared. So, we are very much prepared for any eventuality when it comes to Palaro and God willing, nothing would happen at all.)

Earlier, Dr. Eugenia Mercedes Cañal, regional epidemiologist of the Regional Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit of the Department of Health (DOH-7), reported that dengue cases in Central Visayas had reached 7,132 with 19 deaths for the first six months of the year.

In a separate interview on Monday, Dr. Daisy Villa, head of Cebu City Health Department, said that one of the student athletes was already discharged yesterday. However, she could not disclose which patient was discharged for privacy reasons.

Villa assured that the moment they learned about the cases, they already conducted misting, search and destroy operations in the billeting quarters even before the delegates arrived in Cebu City.

They also conducted another misting operation to the billeting quarters occupied by those student athletes who got positive of dengue fever.